INDUSTRIAL  MANAGEMENT  LIBRARY 


WORK,  WAGES,  AND 
PROFITS 

SECOND  EDITION 
REVISED   AND   ENLARGED 

BY 

H.  L.   GANTT 


NEW  YORK 

THE  ENGINEERING  MAGAZINE  CO. 

1919 


Copyright,  1913, 
By  THE  EXGIXEEEING  MAGAZINE  CO. 


INTEODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

The  first  edition  of  Mr.  Gantt's  book  appeared  in 
1910  as  a  volume  of  194  pages,  with  seven  charts, 
the  graphic  illustrations  and  most  of  the  specific 
examples  being  drawn  from  results  secured  in  the 
textile  industries.  Since  that  date  a  rapid  rise  has 
taken  place  in  public  attention  to  the  methods  used 
and  the  results  secured,  and  in  the  active  effort  (evi- 
denced by  inquiry  and  undertaking)  to  obtain  ad- 
vantages corresponding  to  those  so  substantially 
realized  in  the  cases  cited. 

This  interest  and  inquiry  have  been  the  principal 
influence  inspiring  the  enlargement  of  this  book,  not 
only  by  inclusion  of  additional  instances,  but  by 
more  detailed  development  of  some  features  of  the 
work,  and  the  summation  of  the  argument  into  a 
comprehensive  and  entire  (even  if  broadly  sketched) 
outline  of  a  plan  of  systematic  management,  based 
on  the  policies  and  methods  defined  by  Mr.  Gantt. 
His  experience  in  the  field  of  labor  management 
covers  a  quarter-century  of  close  practical  applica- 
tion. His  special  methods,  which  even  yet  are  but 
partially  and  imperfectly  understood  by  many,  have 
been  identified  with  his  name  for  at  least  half  this 
period.  These  methods  are  sometimes  incorrectly 
supposed  to  be  summed  up  in  the  bonus  system  of 
wage  payment;  but  the  inducement  of  increased 
earnings  is  only  one  factor,  and  almost  the  last  fac- 
tor, in  the  complete  statement  of  Mr.  Gantt's  meth- 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION    TO    SECOND   EDITION 

ods.  His  whole  concept  of  scientific  investigation, 
careful  standardization,  individual  instruction,  and 
interconnected  reward  to  both  instructor  or  super- 
visor and  workman,  must  be  clearly  grasped  before 
any  adequate  idea  of  task  work  with  bonus  can  be 
obtained. 

This  full  concept  is  set  forth  in  the  present  vol- 
ume, multiplied  by  ample  exhibition  of  practical  re- 
sults. The  added  material  is  drawn  from  the  me- 
chanical industries,  from  machine-shop,  metal-work- 
ing and  locomotive-building  plants.  The  colored 
charts,  which  have  been  received  with  so  much  in- 
terest, are  increased  in  number  from  six  to  twelve, 
the  whole  number  of  illustrations  being  brought  up 
to  twenty-seven,  and  the  original  nine  chapters  being 
enlarged  by  expansion  and  supplement  to  twelve. 

The  larger  portion  of  the  first  edition  was  gath- 
ered by  compilation  of  a  series  of  articles  published 
in  The  Engineering  Magazine  from  February  to 
June,  1910,  with  incorporation  of  three  of  Mr. 
Gantt's  important  earlier  contributions  on  the  same 
subject.  To  this  are  now  added  a  new  chapter  on 
"The  Task  Idea,"  adapted  from  Mr.  Gantt's  paper 
before  the  Tuck  School  Conference;  an  enlargement 
of  the  discussion  on  "Fixing  Habits  of  Industry,'' 
based  upon  results  observed  since  the  former  volume 
was  issued;  a  new  chapter  on  "Eesults,"  inspired  by 
comment  and  inquiry  addressed  to  the  author  dur- 
ing the  last  three  years;  and  a  concluding  chapter, 
condensed  from  an  article  on  "A  Practical  Example 
of  Scientific  Management,"  published  in  The  Engi- 
neering Magazine  for  April,  1911. 

It  is  natural,  and  indeed  inevitable,  in  the  present 
active  development  of  the  philosophy  of  efficiency 
and  the  practice  of  scientific  management,  that  such 
revisions  should  be  made.    The  underlying  ideas  are 


INTRODUCTION    TO    SECOND   EDITION  5 

vital;  and,  like  all  live  things,  they  are  still  grow- 
ing, and  will  continue  to  grow.  Growth  means  ex- 
pansion, if  not  change  of  form,  and  this  makes  final 
definition  impossible,  because  definition  means  limi- 
tation. In  the  following  pages,  however,  Mr.  Gantt 
gives  the  fullest  exposition  ever  put  forth  of  his  ma- 
ture thought  and  work.  He  gives  to  the  world  here 
the  latest  word  (though  happily  far  from  the  last 
word)  on  his  principles  and  practice.  His  grasp 
of  fundamentals  is  scientific.  His  association  of  ef- 
fects with  their  causes  is  philosophic.  In  its  entirety 
the  work  offers  an  interpretation  of  industrial  con- 
ditions and  a  promise  for  betterment  that  make  it 
a  classic — a  classic  of  optimism — in  the  literature  of 
industry. 

Charles  Buxton  Going. 


PEEFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION 

The  law  of  development  is  evolution.  Revolution 
is  justified  only  when  evolution  is  impossible. 

If  the  most  complete  system  of  scientific  manage- 
ment which  has  ever  been  devised  could  be  installed 
in  a  manufacturing  plant  over  night,  it  would  prob- 
ably be  impossible  to  operate  that  plant  at  all  the 
next  day,  and  for  weeks,  perhaps  months,  it  would 
be  operated  in  such  an  inefficient  manner  as  un- 
doubtedly to  cause  very  serious  losses. 

A  system  of  management  especially  designed  for 
economical  production  is  a  mechanism  which  is  suc- 
cessful only  when  all  parts  work  in  harmony.  The 
men  who  form  a  part  of  this  mechanism  must  be 
trained  individually  and  collectively. 

At  the  battle  of  Santiago,  individually  capable 
men,  serving  good  guns,  under  high-class  officers, 
made  an  average  of  three  per  cent  in  their  hits,  at 
an  average  distance  of  not  over  two  miles.  These 
same  men,  under  the  same  officers,  properly  trained 
to  use  the  best  scientific  knowledge  and  methods  of 
today,  would  easily  score  in  hits  eighty  per  cent  of 
the  shots  at  the  same  range,  at  the  same  time  firing 
five  times  as  rapidly. 

To  attempt  to  operate  a  new  system  of  gun-fire 
control  from  rules  and  instructions,  without  train- 
ing the  men,  would  result  in  the  loss  of  even  the 
three  per  cent  efficiency  which  existed  before  the 
introduction  of  the  new  system. 

7 


8  PREFACE   TO    SECOND   EDITION 

While  I  do  not  believe  that,  in  an  ordinary  manu- 
facturing establishment,  a  sudden  change  of  manage- 
ment would  be  quite  as  disastrous  as  such  a  change 
would  have  been  in  the  navy,  yet  it  would  unques- 
tionably be  very  detrimental  to  the  business,  per- 
haps for  a  long  time. 

The  principles  of  modern  industrial  organization, 
popularly  known  as  "Scientific  Management,"  are 
getting  to  be  pretty  well  understood  by  those  who 
have  studied  the  subject  thoroughly.  Even  the  meth- 
ods of  operating  the  various  mechanisms  used  for 
this  purpose  are  becoming  more  clear  to  people  who 
are  in  the  habit  of  investigating  new  methods  and 
ideas.  These  methods,  however,  can  never  be  util- 
ized properly  until  the  rank  and  file  have  been  trained 
to  operate  under  them.  This  training  necessarily 
takes  time;  but,  if  it  is  properly  done,  I  have  yet 
to  find  anybody  more  enthusiastic  than  the  workmen 
themselves  operating  under  it.  They  have  the  same 
kind  of  enthusiasm  that  the  gunner  in  the  navy  has 
acquired  since  he  learned  that  shooting  is  no  longer 
guess-work. 

The  man  who  undertakes  to  introduce  scientific 
management  and  pins  his  faith  to  rules,  and  the  use 
of  forms  and  blanks,  without  thoroughly  compre- 
hending the  principles  upon  which  it  is  based,  will 
fail.  Forms  and  blanks  are  simply  the  means  to  an 
end.  If  the  end  is  not  kept  clearly  in  mind,  the  use 
of  these  forms  and  blanks  is  apt  to  be  detrimental 
rather  than  beneficial. 

This  book  is  an  effort  to  explain  the  principles  of 
"Modern  Industrial  Organization,"  and  to  give  some 
idea  of  how  to  utilize  the  methods  of  evolution  in 
the  introduction  of  a  system  of  management  based 
on  these  principles. 


PREFACE    TO    SECOND   EDITION  V 

A  system  of  management  is  an  asset,  and  a  good 
system  is  a  valuable  asset. 

The  cost  of  acquiring  such  an  asset  cannot  be 
legitimately  charged  to  operating  expenses. 

H.  L.  Gantt. 
April,  1913. 


CONTENTS 

"Chapter    I.      The   Application    of   the   Scientific 
Method  to  the  Labor  Problem 

Economical  Utilization  of  Labor  the  Great 
Modern  Problem  for  Engineers  and  Managers — 
Limitation  of  Output  by  Workers — Limitation 
of  Workmen's  Allowable  Earnings  by  Employ- 
ers—How These  Tendencies  Militate  against  the 
Common  Good — Permanently  Successful  Man- 
agement Must  Be  Beneficial  to  both  Employer 
and  Employee — The  Inefficiency  of  Ordinary 
Management  Systems — ^The  Ineflficiency  of  Ordi- 
nary Labor — The  Possible  Betterment  Obtaina- 
ble through  Scientific  Study — The  Attainable 
Output  Generally  Three  Times  the  Present 
Average — Realization  of  This  Large  Possible 
Productivity  Depends  on  the  Manager — His 
Guide  Is  Scientific  Investigation— The  Three 
Parts  of  the  Problem  Defined — The  Benefits 
Secured.  19 

Chapter  II.    The  Utilization  of  Labor 

The  Commercial  Axiom  that  Good  Bargains 
Benefit  both  Parties — The  Same  Principle  now 
Realized  in  Industrial  Relations — Eflicient 
Work  Goes  with  High  Wages — Inefficient  Plant 
Design  or  Equipment  Makes  Efficient  Labor 
Impossible — Common-Sense  Methods  in  Improv- 
ing Plant  Efficiency — Scientific  Study  Necessary 
to  Determine  the  Efficiency  of  Operations — In- 
stances of  Uneconomical  Methods — The  Ele- 
ments of  Operation  Study — How  Operation 
Times  are  Standardized — How  the  Workman  Is 
Induced   to  Reach    Standard   Times — The   Four 

11 


12  CONTENTS 

Conditions  Necessary  to  Secure  Best  Results — 
Exact  Knowledge  of  the  Best  Way  of  Doing 
the  Worlv — Instructing  the  Worlcnien  how  to 
Do  It — Wages  as  an  Inducement — Loss  of 
Bonus  as  a  Preventive  of  Failure — Manage- 
ment and  Wages.  33 

Chapter  III.  The  Compensation  of  Workmen 
The  Passing  of  the  Age  of  Force — The  Con- 
flict between  Employer  and  Employee — ^Trade 
Unions ;  Why  They  Exist — Collective  Bargain- 
ing the  Inevitable  Accompaniment  of  a  Class 
Wage  Rate — Its  Disadvantage  to  the  Employer 
— Its  Disadvantage  to  the  Progressive  Work- 
man— Possibility  of  Offering  the  Individual 
Worker  Something  Better  than  the  Union — 
Ordinary  Methods  of  Wage  Payment  and  Their 
Tendencies.   51 

Chapter  IV.     Day  Work 

Day  Work  Defined — What  Regulates  Day 
Wages — The  Class  Wage  Rate  Destructive  to 
the  Efficiency  of  Labor — Keeping  Individ!ual 
Efficiency  Records — The  Difficulties  and  the  Pos- 
sibilities— Practical  Methods  Outlined — The  Re- 
sults Secured  in  Practice — The  Suggestion  of 
a  System  that  can  Supplant  the  Union 65 

Chapter  V.    Piece  Work 

How  It  Differs  from  Day  Work — How  Ordi- 
nary Piece  Work  Involves  the  Same  Evils  as 
the  Day  Wage — Why  Ordinary  Piece  Work  Pro- 
duces Labor  Troubles — Unreliability  of  Ordi- 
nary Time  Records  and  Foremen's  Estimates — 
How  the  Efficient  Worker  under  the  Ordinary 
Piece-Rate  System  Is  Penalized — A  New  and 
Better  System  Proposed — Its  Essentials — Ex- 
pert Investigation,  Standard  Methods,  Capable 
Workers,  Proper  Instruction,  Sufficient  Com- 
pensation— Why  the  Ordinary  Foreman  can  not 
Do  the  Work  of  the  Expert — Ordinary  Shop 
Difficulties  in  Introducing  the  System — How 
They  may  Be  Overcome — Training  of  Work- 
men— Compensation  of  Workmen  and  of  Train- 


CONTENTS  13 

ers — Keeping  Good  Faith  with  the  Men — The 
Value  of  the  Efficient  Man  to  His  Employer — 
A  Modern  Counterpart  of  the  Apprentice  Sys- 
tem       77 

Chapter  VI.     Task  Work  with  a  Bonus 

A  Review  of  the  Wage  Conditions  That  Lead 
to  Labor  Unions  and  Labor  Conflicts — A  Survey 
of  What  Has  Been  Accomplished  in  Reward- 
ing Efficiency  and  Promoting  Labor  Peace — 
The  History  of  the  Bonus  System — Its  Early 
Results — How  It  Succeeded  at  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works — How  Its  Abandonment  There 
Brought  Back  Labor  Troubles — A  Recapitula- 
tion of  the  Elements  of  the  Successful  System.  103 

Chapter  VII.    The  Task  Idea 

Fundamental  Principle  Underlying  Task 
Work  with  a  Bonus — Its  Essential  Difference 
from  the  "Drive"  Method — The  Task  Idea  Sug- 
gested by  Proved  Experience  in  Training  Chil- 
dren— The  Inspiration  of  Working  for  an  Ob- 
ject— Task  and  Bonus  in  Accord  with  Human 
Nature — Task  and  Bonus  Therefore  a  Proper 
Foundation  for  Successful  Management — The 
Problem  Is  to  Set  the  Proper  Task — Obstacles 
Discovered  in  Practical  Experience — Schedules 
as  Tasks — Scheduling  Miscellaneous  Work — In- 
dividual Efficiency  Rapidly  Raised  by  Simple 
Schedules — Practical  Introduction  of  the  Sched- 
uling System — Preparation  for  Task  Setting — 
What  Steps  It  Is  Necessary  to  Take — How  Hard 
the  Task  Should  Be — Performing  the  Tasks — 
Obligations  of  the  Management — Task  Work  in 
a  Machine  Shop — Actual  Experience  in  a  Bleach- 
ery — Planning  and  Task  Setting  Often  Increase 
Output  Threefold — Maintaining  Proper  Condi- 
tions  121 

Chapter  VIII.     Training  Workmen   in   Habits   of 
Industry  and  Co-operation 

Habits  of  Industry  More  Valuable  than  Knowl- 
edge or  Skill — How  These  Habits  Are  Culti- 
vated by  the  Bonus  System — Its  Practical  Ap- 
plications Explained  in  Detail — How  Habits  of 
Work  Are  Practically  Cultivated — How  Quality 


14  CONTENTS 

as  Well  as  Quantity  of  Output  Improves — The 
Setting  of  Tasks — The  Standardization  of  Work 
— Obstacles  to  the  Introduction  of  the  System — 
Helps  to  Its  Stability  after  It  Has  Been  Intro- 
duced— The  Co-operation  of  the  Men  Secured 
— The  Reasons  Why  Work  Is  Better  as  Well  as 
Larger — Method  of  Introducing  the  System  into 
a  New  Plant ^ 147 

Chapter  IX.     Fixing  Habits  of  Industry 

Records  of  Specific  Cases  Since  1905 — The 
Task  and  Bonus  System  in  a  Cotton  Mill — Indi- 
vidual Records  of  the  Weavers  Exhibited  on  a 
Colored  Chart — The  Chart  Explained  and  Dis- 
cussed— Experience  in  a  Weave  Shed  Exhibiting 
Great  Success — Colored  Chart  Showing  the 
Bonus  System  Applied  to  Winding  Bobbins — 
Discussion — Colored  Chart  Showing  Conditions 
in  the  Same  Department  Three  Years  Later — 
Colored  Chart  Showing  Task  and  Bonus  System 
Applied  to  Spoolers — Progress  of  Efficiency 
Pointed  Out — Chart  Showing  Task  and  Bonus 
System  with  Inspectors — Chart  Showing  Actual 
Results  on  Wages,  Output,  and  Unit  Costs  in 
Folding-Room — How  the  Results  Were  Main- 
tained for  Three  Years  Continuously — Colored 
Chart  Showing  Results  in  a  Worsted  Mill — Col- 
ored Chart  Showing  Increase  in  Efficiency  of 
Weavers — Colored  Chart  Showing  Maintenance 
of  Result  for  Several  Years — How  the  Spirit 
of  Co-operation   Is  Established 175 

Chapter  X.    Results 

Diagram  Showing  Comparison  Between  Old 
Conditions  and  New — Improvement  in  Ratios  of 
Output,  Wage  Costs,  and  Wage  Rate — Better- 
ment of  Quality  as  Well  as  Quantity  of  Output 
— Reorganization  Effected  in  a  Packing-Box  Fac- 
tory— Chart  Showing  Results  Secured  with 
Automatic  Screw  Machines — Chart  Showing 
Betterment  in  Miscellaneous  Machine  Work — 
Similarity  of  Effects  in  All  Cases — Effect  on 
Reduction  of  Overhead  Expense — Treatment  of 
Mistakes  in  Task  Setting — Universality  of  the 
Principles  Proved  by  Charts — The  Essentials  of 
the  Methods  Employed — Favorable  Physical  and 
Mental  Effects  Observed  Among  Bonus  Workers  207 


CONTENTS  15 

Chaptee  XI.     Prices  and  Peofits 

The  Trust  Movement  of  1890 — Effects  of  Con- 
solidation on  Economy  of  Operation — Effects  of 
Union  Labor  on  Increase  of  Production  Cost — 
Two  Ways  of  Increasing  Profits:  Increasing 
Selling  Price  or  Decreasing  Production  Cost — 
The  Vicious  Cycle  of  Increased  Prices — Horizon- 
tal Rise  of  Wages  Not  a  Cure  but  a  Transient 
Expedient — Necessity  of  Adjusting  Prices  to 
Value — The  Economic  Law  That  Permanent 
Large  Profits  Can  Be  Secured  Only  by  Efficient 
Operation — American  Reliance  on  Huge  Na- 
tional Resources  Most  Unsafe — Increased  Ef- 
ficiency a  Question  of  National  Importance — 
Scientific  Methods  Must  Be  Applied  to  Manufac- 
turing Problems — Difficulties  Inherent  in  the 
Factory  System — How  Task  and  Bonus  Restores 
the  Advantages  of  the  Older  Order — The  Ele- 
ments of  Manufacturing  Cost — Profits  Can  Be 
Greatly  Enlarged  Only  by  Increasing  Efficiency 
of  Operation — The  System  of  Management  Ad- 
vocated Insures  Efficient  Control — The  Cost  Is 
Small 227 

''Chapter  XII.     A  Practical  Example 

Origin  of  the  Task  and  Bonus  System — Ele- 
ments of  the  System — The  Limitation  of  Bonus 
— Making  Out  Instruction  Cards — How  Task 
Times  and  Work  Methods  Are  Determined — Ad- 
vantages of  Bonus  over  Piece  Rates — Application 
of  Instruction  Cards  to  a  Machine  Shop — Illus- 
trations of  Typical  Cards — The  Man  Record — 
Daily  Balance  of  Work — A  Foundry  Schedule 
and  Balance — Illustration  of  Balance  Sheet — 
The  Daily  Balance  as  a  Permanent  Record — A 
Machine-Shop  Balance  and  Schedule — Illustra- 
tion— Value  of  Balance  Not  Dependent  upon 
Method  of  Compensation — Cost  of  Keeping  Bal- 
ances— Illustrations  of  Time  Cards — Time  Rec- 
ords— Cost  Determinations — Cost  of  Time-Keep- 
ing System — Determining  Progress  of  Produc- 
tion— Difficulties  of  Getting  a  Daily  Balance — 
Values  of  the  Balance  when  Obtained — The 
Schedule  System — Routine  and  Expert  Work — 
General  Principles  and  Details 253 


TABLE    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

Man  Record  Sheet 68 

Weavers'  Achievement  of  Task 182 

Fixation  of  Habits  of  Industry 182 

Disappearance  of  the  Slack  Monday  Habit 186 

Maintenance  of  Conditions  for  Three  Years 189 

Disappearance  of  Slack  Saturday  Habit 190 

Betterment  of  Output  by  Bonus  to  Foremen 190 

Twelve  Months'  Improvement  under  Task  and  Bonus 

System,  Girls  Working  in  a  Folding  Room 192 

Bonus  Record  of  Girls  in  a  Worsted  Mill 194 

Same  Room  Later,  Showing  Progress  of  Betterment  194 
Results  of  Too  Great  Haste  in  Putting  Workers  on 

Bonus 196 

Errors  of  Hasty  Start  Corrected  by  Perseverance 200 

Very  Recent  Record   Showing  Success  of  Task  and 

Bonus  in  Spite  of  Hostility  of  Workers 204 

Improvement   of   Ratios   of   Production,   Wage-Cost, 
and    Earnings    by    Task    and    Bonus    Methods    in 

Pillow-Case  Factory 208 

Improvement  of  Output,  Wage  Earnings,  and  Pro- 
duction Cost  of  Small  Automatic  Machines 213 

Improvement  of  Output,  Wage  Earnings,  and  Pro- 
duction Cost  of  Large  Automatic  Machines 214 

Improvement  of  Output,  Wage  Earnings,   and  Pro- 
duction Cost  in  Miscellaneous  Machine  Work 217 

Instruction  Card  for  Turning  a  Crank  Shaft 264 

Instruction  Card,  Planing  Locomotive  Frames 265 

Instruction  Card,  Drilling  Cylinder  Cover,  (Front)-  267 
Instruction  Card,  Drilling  Cylinder  Cover,  (Back).,  267 

Graphical  Balance  for  Foundry  Records 273 

Graphical  Record,  Building  15  Locomotives 276 

Graphical     Record,     Showing     Effect     of     Deficient 

Frame-Drilling  Capacity 277 

Time  Card  for  a  Machine  Shop 282 

Time  Card  Used  in  a  Bleachery 283 

Rack  for  Time  Cards 284 

16 


THE    APPLICATION    OF    SCIENTIFIC 

METHODS    TO    THE    LABOR 

PROBLEM 


WORK,  WAGES,  AND  PROFITS 


Chapter  I 

THE  APPLICATION  OF  SCIENTIFIC  METH- 
ODS TO  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM 

'  I  ''HE  greatest  i3roblem  before  engineers 
''-  and  managers  today  is  the  economical 
utilization  of  labor.  The  limiting  of  output 
by  the  workman,  and  the  limiting  by  the  em- 
ployer of  the  amount  a  workman  is  allowed 
to  earn,  are  both  factors  which  militate 
against  that  harmonious  co-operation  of  em- 
ployer and  employee  which  is  essential  to 
their  highest  common  good. 

Scientific  investigation  is  rapidly  putting 
at  our  disposal  vast  amounts  of  knowledge 
concerning  materials  and  forces,  which  it  is 
the  business  of  the  engineer  to  utilize  for  the 
benefit  of  the  community.  Well-designed 
plants  and  efficient  labor-saving  devices,  to 
be  seen  on  every  hand,  bear  testimony  that 

19 


20  WORK,    "WAGES,   AXD   PROFITS 

lie  is  doing  at  least  a  portion  of  his  work 
well.  When,  however,  it  comes  to  the  opera- 
tion of  these  i^lants  and  the  utilization  of 
these  labor-saving  devices,  the  lack  of  co- 
operation between  employer  and  employee, 
and  the  inefficient  utilization  of  labor,  very 
much  impair  their  efficiency. 

The  increase  of  this  efficiency  is  essen- 
tially the  problem  of  the  manager,  and  the 
amount  to  which  it  can  be  increased  by 
proper  study  is,  in  most  cases,  so  great  as  to 
be  almost  incredible. 

In  considering  the  subject  of  management 
we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  in  this  coun- 
try, so  long  as  a  man  conforms  to  the  laws 
of  the  State,  he  has  a  right  to  govern  his 
own  conduct,  and  to  act  in  such  a  manner  as 
his  interests  seem  to  dictate.  Granting  this, 
it  follows  that  any  scheme  of  management  to 
be  permanently  successful  must  be  beneficial 
alike  to  employer  and  employee,  and  neithel^ 
labor  unions  that  regard  their  interests  as 
essentially  antagonistic  to  that  of  employers, 
nor  employers'  associations  whose  only  ef- 
fort is  to  oppose  force  with  force,  can  ever 
effect  a  permanent  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  proper  relations  between  employers 
and  employees. 


SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM    21 

Boards  of  arbitration  are  temporary  ex- 
pedients, and  the  results  of  tlieir  work  are 
seldom  better  than  a  sort  of  Missouri  com- 
promise, to  be  fought  out  later ;  for  although 
they  be  composed  of  men  of  the  highest  in- 
telligence, and  of  the  greatest  integrity,  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  organized 
and  the  means  at  their  disposal  never  enable 
them  to  get  more  than  a  superficial  knowl- 
edge of  the  subject.  The  information  such 
a  board  gets  is  all  in  the  form  of  testimony, 
which,  although  it  may  be  honestly  given,  can 
never  produce  a  complete  understanding  of 
the  subject;  for,  as  a  rule,  neither  employer 
nor  employee  knows  exactly  in  detail  the  best 
way  of  doing  a  piece  of  work,  and,  as  far  as 
my  own  experience  goes,  they  never  know  ex- 
actly Jiotv  long  it  should  take  a  good  man 
fitted  for  the  work,  and  provided  ivith  proper 
implements.  Before  intelligent  action  can  be 
taken  in  any  case  these  facts  must  be  known. 

In  order  to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  con- 
ditions that  exist  in  the  mass  of  our  manu- 
facturing industries  it  is  necessary  to  review 
briefly  the  manner  of  their  development. 

The  expert  mechanic,  who,  with  a  business 
growing  to  larger  projiortions  than  he  could 
take  care  of,  hired  a  few  men  to  help  him, 


23  -WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

and  directed  them  all  by  his  personal  ex- 
ample and  skill,  first  gave  place  to  the  small 
factory,  which  he  could  run  on  the  same  lines. 

Today,  however,  even  the  smaller  fac- 
tories have  grown  beyond  the  point  where 
they  can  be  directed  or  controlled  by  one 
man,  and  methods  which  were  successful  on 
the  smaller  scale  fail  now  to  apply  on  the 
larger.  The  factory  is  divided  into  depart- 
ments, each  directed  by  a  foreman,  who,  in 
many  cases,  has  had  no  training  in  manage- 
ment, and  often  has  no  capacity  for  it.  He 
is  invariably  overworked  if  he  attempts  to 
do  his  duty,  and  the  manager  seldom  has 
time  to  inquire  into  his  troubles,  but  fre- 
quently tries  to  remedy  matters  by  appoint- 
ing another  foreman,  often  making  matters 
worse. 

Again,  if  expenses  are  too  great,  and  it 
seems  impossible  to  meet  competition,  there 
is  seldom  any  serious  effort  made  to  find  out 
why  expenses  are  too  high,  but  it  is  assumed 
that  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty  is  to  reduce 
wages.  It  never  appears  to  occur  to  a  man- 
ager that  perhaps  the  cause  of  the  excessive 
expense  may  not  lie  with  the  workman,  but 
with  the  management.  Managers  rarely  seem 
to  suspect  that,  if  the  workmen  were  more 


SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM    23 

intelligently  directed,  the  output  per  man 
might  be  largely  increased  without  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  expense. 

Those  who  have  given  even  superficial 
study  to  the  subject  are  beginning  to  realize 
the  enormous  gain  that  can  be  made  in  the 
efficiency  of  workmen,  if  they  are  properly 
directed  and  provided  with  proper  appli- 
ances. Few,  however,  have  realized  another 
fact  of  equal  importance,  namely,  that  to 
maintain  permanently  this  increase  of  effi- 
ciency, the  workman  must  be  allowed  a  por- 
tion of  the  benefit  derived  from  it. 

To  obtain  this  high  degree  of  efficiency 
successfully,  however,  the  same  careful  scien- 
tific analysis  and  investigation  must  be  ap- 
plied to  every  labor  detail  as  the  chemist  or 
biologist  applies  to  his  work.  Wherever  this 
has  been  done,  it  has  been  found  possible  to 
reduce  expenses,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to 
increase  wages,  producing  a  condition  satis- 
factory to  both  employer  and  employee. 

The  great  difficulty  in  instituting  this 
method  of  dealing  with  labor  questions  is 
that  usually  neither  employer  nor  employee 
has  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  scientific 
method  to  realize  either  the  amount  of  detail 
work  necessary,  or  the  extent  of  the  benefits 


24  AVORK,    WAGES,    AMD   PROFITS 

to  bo  derived  from  it.  In  general,  tlieir  in- 
clination is  to  adhere  to  the  methods  with 
which  they  are  familiar,  and  to  distrust  all 
others,  even  though  their  methods  have  failed 
to  bring  them  appreciably  nearer  the  solu- 
tion of  their  problems,  and  the  newer 
methods  have  produced  results  far  more  sat- 
isfactory than  they  even  hoped  for.  A  scien- 
tific investigation  into  the  details  of  a  condi- 
tion that  has  grown  up  unassisted  by  science 
has  never  yet  failed  to  show  that  economies 
and  improvements  are  feasible  that  benefit 
both  parties  to  an  extent  unsuspected  by 
either. 

The  scientific  laboratory  for  the  study  of 
materials  and  forces,  originally  considered 
as  belonging  only  to  educational  institutions, 
has  recently  become  a  recognized  necessity 
in  all  our  large  industries,  and  to  it  princi- 
pally the  great  advance  of  recent  years  has 
been  due.  As  yet,  however,  in  but  few  cases 
has  any  definite  attempt  been  made  to  study 
in  a  scientific  manner  the  most  efficient  way 
of  utilizing  the  human  labor.  Of  how  much 
work  of  various  kinds  the  ordinary  man  has 
done,  we  have  many  records ;  but  of  how 
much  a  man  specially  suited  to  any  class  of 
work  can  do,  we  have  almost  no  knowledge. 


SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM    25 

Enough  study  has  been  spent  on  the  subject, 
however,  to  determine  that  men  specially 
suited  to  any  particular  kind  of  labor,  if  sup- 
plied with  proper  implements  and  intelli- 
gently directed,  can  do  on  the  average  at 
least  three  times  as  much  as  the  average 
workman  does,  if  the  limiting  factor  is  physi- 
cal exertion;  and,  if  assured  sufficient  com- 
pensation, the  average  workman  will  do  this 
increased  task,  day  after  day. 

The  ratio  of  what  can  be  done  to  what  is 
done  is  even  greater  than  three  to  one  in 
work  requiring  skill  and  planning.  Well 
thought  out  plans  alone,  if  accompanied  by 
complete  instructions  for  doing  work,  often 
produce  an  increase  of  more  than  100  per 
cent,  over  what  is  usually  done.  This  is  par- 
ticularly true  in  complicated  work,  which 
should  be  planned  most  carefully,  but  which 
is  often  not  planned  at  all.  It  is  usually  left 
to  the  judgment  of  a  busy  foreman,  whose 
first  knowledge  of  what  is  to  be  done  reaches 
him  with  the  order  to  do  it.  In  such  a  case, 
it  is  the  exception  when  the  work  does  not 
cost  in  wages  several  times  what  it  should, 
and  this  with  no  fault  of  the  foreman  or 
workman. 

These  facts  have  been  established  in  num- 


26  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

erous  cases  of  ordinary  labor,  in  doing  ma- 
chine-shop work,  in  building  engines,  and  in 
the  erection  of  structures  of  various  kinds. 
Similar  possibilities  have  been  indicated 
wherever  the  slightest  effort  has  been  made 
to  study  or  to  plan,  showing  that  in  many  in- 
stances a  condition  of  affairs  exists  which  is 
not  only  wasteful  to  the  owners,  but  discour- 
aging and  unjust  to  the  workmen,  most  of 
whom  would  be  willing  to  do  more  work  to 
earn  increased  pay  if  only  the  opportunity 
to  do  so  were  offered,  and  they  were  guaran- 
teed that  they  would  not  ultimately  lose  by 
doing  so. 

Mr.  E.  F.  Du  Brul,  formerly  the  Commis- 
sioner of  the  National  Metal  Trades  Asso- 
ciation, an  organization  of  employers  formed 
to  protect  themselves  from  the  unjust  de- 
mands of  the  labor  unions,  stated  some  time 
ago  that  a  large  majority  of  strikes  were 
produced  by  mismanagement.  Mr.  Du  Brul 
has  perhaps  had  more  general  experience 
with  striking  employees  than  any  other  man 
in  this  country,  and  his  conclusion  is  that  the 
best  insurance  against  strikes  is  good  man- 
agement. He,  therefore,  strongly  advises 
managers  to  study  the  subject.  The  neces- 
sity for  this  advice  will  become  evident  when 


SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  FOK  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM    27 

we  realize  that  hardly  any  two  managers,  un- 
less they  have  been  trained  under  the  same 
influence,  agree  as  to  the  proper  way  of  deal- 
ing with  any  of  the  intricate  questions  that 
are  constantly  arising  between  employer  and 
employee;  much  less  will  they  agree  on  any 
general  principles  of  management. 

There  have  been  in  the  past  and  are  today 
great  managers.  Are  there  not  some  general 
principles  by  which  they  either  consciously 
or  unconsciously  are  governed?  In  other 
words,  are  there  not  some  general  principles, 
applicable,  at  least  to  a  large  number  of 
cases,  according  to  which  substantial  equity 
can  be  insured  between  employer  and  em- 
ployee, and  a  higher  degree  of  efficiency  re- 
alized from  their  harmonious  co-operation? 

The  only  successful  method  of  determin- 
ing general  laws  has  been  that  of  scientific 
investigation,  and,  in  the  study  of  questions 
involving  human  labor,  enough  has  been  done 
to  show  that  the  same  method  is  applicable 
to  at  least  a  large  number  of  individual  cases, 
and  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  it  is 
universally  applicable. 

Labor  unions  demanding  all  they  can  get, 
and  employers'  associations  organized  sim- 
ply to  oppose  the  demands  of  the  unions,  can 


28  WORK,    WAGES,    AKD    PROFITS 

never  evolve  a  satisfactory  system  of  manage- 
ment ;  for,  although  each,  in  its  way,  may  be 
(and  undoubtedly  is)  often  beneficial  to  its 
members,  both  are  formed  with  the  idea  of 
using  force  only,  which  can  never  be  a  substi- 
tute for  knowledge. 

Although  a  board  of  arbitration  may  be 
useful  in  averting  a  crisis,  the  decision  of 
such  a  board  founded  on  such  facts  as  are 
available  should  be  professedly  only  tempo- 
rary in  character,  to  be  revised  later  accord- 
ing to  the  results  of  a  scientific  investigation 
of  the  matter  in  dispute,  to  be  undertaken 
at  the  earliest  possible  date. 

This  problem  consists  of  three  parts : 

First. — To  find  out  the  proper  day's  task 
for  a  man  suited  to  the  w^ork. 

Second. — To  find  out  the  compensation 
needed  to  induce  such  men  to  do  a  full  day's 
work. 

Third. — To  plan  so  that  the  workman  may 
work  continuously  and  efficiently. 

The  problem  is  difficult,  for  a  man  suited 
to  the  work  must  be  found  and  induced  to 
work  at  his  full  capacity.  The  details  of  the 
work  must  be  arranged  so  that  he  can  work 
most  efficiently,  and  the  time  to  do  each  de- 
tail must  be  carefully  studied  with  a  stop 


SCIENTIFIC  METHODS  FOR  THE  LABOR  PROBLEM    29 

watch.  From  such  detail  observations  it  is 
possible  to  determine  what  a  good  man  can 
do,  day  after  day,  and  there  is  but  little  diffi- 
culty in  finding  out  what  men  have  to  be  paid 
to  make  them  do  all  they  can;  for,  although 
men  prefer,  as  a  rule,  to  sell  their  time,  and 
themselves  determine  the  amount  of  work 
they  will  do  in  that  time,  a  large  proportion 
of  them  are  willing  to  do  any  reasonable 
amount  of  work  the  employer  may  specify  in 
that  time,  provided  only  they  are  shown  how 
it  can  be  done,  trained  to  do  it,  and  guaran- 
teed substantial  additional  amounts  of  money 
for  doing  it.  The  additional  amount  needed 
to  make  men  do  as  much  as  they  can  depends 
upon  how  hard  or  disagreeable  the  work  is, 
and  varies  from  20  to  100  per  cent,  of  what 
they  can  earn  when  working  by  the  day,  ac- 
cording to  their  own  methods  and  at  their 
preferred  speed. 

The  cost  of  these  initial  investigations  is 
necessarily  large,  for  they  can  be  made  only 
by  capable  men  who  have  had  the  special 
training  necessary,  and  hence  the  expense 
must  be  borne  by  the  employer;  but  the  re- 
turns, when  the  results  of  these  investiga- 
tions begin  to  be  applied,  are  so  great  as  to 
pay  in  a  short  time  for  the  investigations,  to 


30  WORK,    WAGES,   AXD    PROFITS 

allow  a  substantial  increase  of  wages  to  the 
employee,  and  to  leave  a  good  margin  of 
profit  to  the  employer. 

The  benefits  which  have  been  derived  from 
such  investigations  are : 

An  increase  of  output. 

A  decrease  in  cost  of  product. 

Better  workmen  attracted  by  higher 
wages. 

Improvement  of  quality  of  product  due  to 
better  workmen  and  more  careful  super- 
vision. 

These  results  are  well  worth  striving  for, 
and  the  fact  that  they  have  been  obtained  by 
the  application  of  the  scientific  method  to 
the  ordinary  problems  indicates  strongly 
that  progress  is  to  be  made  in  such  matters 
by  the  scientific  method,  which  has  been  re- 
sponsible for  other  kinds  of  progress  in  the 
past. 


EFFICIENT  UTILIZATION   OF  LABOR 


Chapter  II 

EFFICIENT  UTILIZATION  OF  LABOR 

T  T  has  become  an  axiom  in  the  commercial 
-*"  world  that  in  the  long  run  those  transac- 
tions most  promote  prosperity  which  are  ad- 
vantageous alike  to  buyer  and  seller.  It  is 
coming  to  be  realized  in  the  industrial  world 
that  the  same  thing  is  true  regarding  the  ar- 
rangements between  employers  and  em- 
ployees, and  that  no  arrangement  is  perma- 
nent that  is  not  regarded  by  both  as  being 
beneficial.  In  other  words,  the  only  healthy 
industrial  condition  is  that  in  which  the  em- 
ployer has  the  best  men  obtainable  for  his 
work,  and  the  workman  feels  that  his  labor 
is  being  sold  at  the  highest  market  price. 

The  employer  who  insists  on  more  service 
than  he  pays  for,  and  the  employee  who  de- 
mands excessive  wages  for  his  work,  both 
lose  in  the  long  run.  The  former  worries 
continually  about  how  to  manage  dissatis- 
fied workmen,  who  are  continually  on  the 
verge  of  a  strike,  and  in  dull  times  the  lat- 
ter lives  in  constant  dread  that  his  employer 

33 


34  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

may  no  longer  be  able  to  continue  business, 
and  he  may  be  out  of  work.  In  otlier  words, 
unless  efficient  work  goes  with  high  wages, 
the  result  is  apt  to  be  disastrous  to  both  em- 
ployer and  employee,  and  if  we  would  have 
satisfactory  workmen  we  must  learn  how 
to  make  their  labor  efficient,  for  it  is  to  effi- 
cient labor  only  that  high  wages  can  be  uni- 
formly paid. 

Again,  if  a  plant  is  badly  laid  out,  if  it 
contains  inferior  or  antiquated  machinery, 
or  if  the  management  is  inefficient,  it  may  be 
impossible  for  the  best  workman  to  do  an 
amount  of  work  really  entitling  him  to  good 
wages.  Any  one  of  these  causes  and  others 
may  explain  why  a  plant,  whose  name  for 
years  has  been  a  synonym  for  prosperity, 
has  gradually  become  less  prosperous,  until 
finally  it  scarcely  holds  its  own  by  decreas- 
ing the  wages  of  its  employees.  The  final 
stage  of  such  a  plant  is  to  close  down  in- 
definitely, and  to  remain  for  years  a  monu- 
ment to  the  short-sighted  policy  of  its  own- 
ers and  the  misfortune  of  its  employees. 

The  time  to  make  provision  against  such 
a  fate  is  not  when  sharp  competition  begins 
to  show  the  need  of  it,  but  when  prosperous 
times  produce  a  large  surplus  of  earnings. 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OF    LABOR  35 

Out  of  such  earnings  ample  provision  should 
be  made  to  take  full  advantage  of  all  im- 
provements in  apparatus  or  management 
that  are  available. 

Improving  a  plant  does  not  necessarily 
mean  enlarging  it,  but  equipping  it  with  the 
best  and  most  efficient  apparatus  scientific 
investigation  can  suggest  and  ingenuity  can 
devise. 

Improving  the  system  of  management 
means  the  elimination  of  elements  of  chance 
or  accident,  and  the  accomplishment  of  all 
the  ends  desired  in  accordance  with  knowl- 
edge derived  from  a  scientific  investigation 
of  everything  down  to  the  smallest  detail  of 
labor,  for  all  misdirected  effort  is  simply 
loss,  and  must  be  home  either  hy  the  em- 
ployer or  employee. 

In  a  proper  system  of  management  prac- 
tically all  loss  of  this  character  is  eliminated, 
and  the  saving  effected  by  this  alone  will 
usually  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  system 
and  leave  a  handsome  profit. 

Wherever  any  attempt  is  made  to  do  work 
economically  the  compensation  of  the  work- 
man is  based  more  or  less  accurately  on  the 
efficiency  of  his  labor.  Very  fair  success  in 
doing   this    has    been   accomplished   in   day 


36  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

work  by  keeping  an  exact  record  of  the  work 
done  each  day  by  every  man,  and  by  fixing 
his  compensation  accordingly.  This  method, 
however,  falls  very  far  short  of  securing  the 
highest  efficiency,  for  very  few  workmen 
know  the  best  way  of  doing  a  piece  of  work, 
and  almost  none  have  the  time  or  ability  to 
investigate  different  methods  and  select  the 
best.  It  often  happens  then  that  a  man  work- 
ing as  hard  as  he  can  falls  far  short  of  what 
can  be  done  on  account  of  employing  in- 
ferior methods,  inferior  tools,  or  both. 

We  can  never  be  certain  that  we  have  de- 
vised the  best  and  most  efficient  method  of 
doing  any  piece  of  work  until  we  have  sub- 
jected our  methods  to  the  criticism  of  a  com- 
plete scientific  investigation.  Many  people 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  seeing  an  oper- 
ation performed  in  a  certain  way,  or  to  per- 
forming it  in  that  way  for  a  number  of  years, 
imagine  they  know  all  about  it,  and  resent 
the  intimation  that  there  may  be  some  better 
wa}^  of  doing  it.  Anybody,  however,  who 
carefully  analyzes  the  sources  of  his 
methods  will  find  that  the  mass  of  them  are 
either  inherited,  so  to  speak,  from  his  prede- 
cessor, or  copied  from  his  contemporaries. 
ITe  will  find  that  he  knows  but  little  of  their 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OP   LABOR  37 

real  origin,  and  consequently  has  no  ground 
on  which  to  base  an  opinion  of  their  effi- 
ciency. 

Even  such  a  simple  operation  as  shoveling 
is  done  very  uneconomically  in  many  places. 
I  have  seen  the  same  shovel  used  for  coal, 
ashes,  and  shavings,  and  this  when  coke  forks 
were  available  for  the  shavings.  The  fore- 
man had  apparently  given  the  subject  no 
study,  and  was  content  if  the  men  were  at 
work.  The  idea  of  working  efficiently  had 
never  occurred  to  him.  This  is,  of  course, 
an  extreme  case,  but  it  is  a  real  one,  and  all 
degrees  of  efficiency  exist  between  this  and 
the  case  where  each  workman  is  provided 
with  the  proper  implement  and  given  a  spe- 
cific task,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which 
he  is  awarded  extra  compensation. 

The  knowledge  needed  to  set  a  task,  even 
in  such  a  simple  case  as  shoveling,  is  much 
greater  than  is  at  first  realized,  for  hardly 
any  two  substances  can  be  treated  exactly 
alike,  and  the  same  substance  is  often  much 
harder  to  shovel  from  the  top  of  a  pile  than 
from  the  bottom,  which  rests  on  a  smooth, 
hard  surface.  In  studying  shoveling  the  first 
thing  to  be  determined  is  the  size  of  shovel, 
which  must  be  gauged  to  hold  the  weight 


38  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

which  it  is  most  economical  to  handle.  The 
second  step  is  to  find  how  long  it  takes  to  fill 
the  shovel.  For  sand,  fine  coal,  ashes,  etc., 
it  makes  no  difference  in  loading  the  shovel 
whetlier  the  material  is  taken  from  the  top 
or  the  bottom  of  the  pile;  but  in  egg  coal, 
broken  stone,  or  lump  ore,  the  difference  is 
very  great ;  for,  while  it  is  quite  easy  to  get 
a  full  shovel  from  the  bottom  of  the  pile 
which  rests  on  a  smooth,  hard  surface,  it  is, 
in  some  such  cases,  practically  impossible  to 
fill  a  shovel  from  the  top  of  the  pile  without 
actually  raking  the  material  onto  the  shovel. 
Again,  the  distance  or  height  to  which  the 
material  is  thrown  is  a  factor  in  all  cases, 
not  only  because  the  higher  or  longer  throw 
takes  slightly  more  time,  but  because  it  takes 
more  energy. 

This  analysis  shows  that  each  such  opera- 
tion is  composed  of  a  number  of  elements, 
which  may  be  studied  separately.  Having 
determined  each  element,  they  may  be  com- 
bined in  a  number  of  ways  to  show  the  time 
needed  to  fill  and  empty  a  shovel,  with  any 
material,  under  a  variety  of  conditions. 
Knowing  the  time  needed  for  an  operation, 
we  can  add  to  it  the  percentage  of  time 
needed  for  rest,  etc.,  which  has  been  deter- 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION   OF    LABOR  39 

mined  by  a  long  series  of  tests,  and  calculate 
just  how  many  shovelfulls  a  good  man  can 
average  per  minute  without  over-exerting 
himself.  Having  determined  thus  the  amount 
of  work  that  a  man  can  do,  we  can  usually 
get  it  done  if  we  offer  the  proper  wages  for 
doing  it,  and  furnish  an  instructor  who  will 
teach  the  workman  how  to  do  it. 

Having  determined  the  best  method  and 
taught  it  to  a  capable  workman,  to  whom 
good  wages  are  paid  for  its  successful  opera- 
tion, would  seem  to  be  enough  to  assure  that 
the  work  should  be  done  that  way  perma- 
nently. Such,  however,  is  not  the  fact,  for 
while  these  conditions  will  usually  produce 
the  desired  result,  they  will  not  always  main- 
tain it,  but  must  be  supplemented  by  another 
condition,  namely,  no  increase  in  wages  over 
day  rate  on  the  part  of  the  luorkman  unless 
a  certain  degree  of  efficiency  is  maintained. 

The  importance  of  maintaining  a  definite 
degree  of  efficiency  is  readily  understood 
when  we  consider  that  a  properly  equipped 
plant  has  only  its  proper  complement  of  each 
kind  of  machine,  and  if  the  output  of  any 
one  falls  below  a  certain  amount  the  output 
of  the  whole  plant  is  diminished  in  propor- 
tion and  the  profits  fall  off  in  a  much  greater 


40  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

ratio.  This  fact  does  not  appeal  to  the  work- 
man who  has  made  good  wages  for  several 
days  and  concludes  to  take  it  easy  for  a  while, 
unless  he  also  feels  the  loss  his  easy  going 
causes  his  employer. 

In  order  to  get  the  best  results  these  four 
conditions  are  necessary: 

First — Complete  and  exact  knowledge  of 
the  best  way  of  doing  the  work,  proper  ap- 
pliances and  materials.  This  is  obtainable 
only  as  the  result  of  a  complete  scientific 
investigation  of  the  problem. 

Second — An  instructor  competent  and  will- 
ing to  teach  the  workman  how  to  make  use 
of  this  information. 

Third — Wages  for  efficient  work  high 
enough  to  make  a  competent  man  feel  that 
they  are  worth  striving  for. 

Fourth — No  increase  of  wages  over  day 
rate  unless  a  certain  degree  of  efficiency  is 
maintained. 

When  these  four  conditions  for  efficient 
work  are  appreciated  their  truth  seems  al- 
most axiomatic.  They  are  worthy  of  a  very 
careful  consideration. 

SCIENTIFIC    INVESTIGATION. 

The  first  condition  is  an  investigation  of 
how  to  do  the  work  and  how  long  it  should 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OF    LABOR  41 

take.  The  fact  that  any  operation,  no 
matter  how  complicated,  can  be  resolved 
into  a  series  of  simple  operations,  is 
the  key  to  the  solution  of  many  prob- 
lems. Study  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
complicated  operations  are  always  composed 
of  a  number  of  simple  operations,  and  that 
the  number  of  elementary  operations  is  often 
smaller  than  the  number  of  complicated  op- 
erations of  which  they  form  the  parts.  The 
natural  method,  then,  of  studying  a  complex 
operation  is  to  study  its  component  element- 
ary operations.  Such  an  investigation  di- 
vides itself  into  three  parts,  as  follows:  An 
analysis  of  the  operation  into  its  elements ; 
a  study  of  these  elements  separately;  a  syn- 
thesis, or  putting  together  the  results  of  our 
study. 

This  is  recognized  at  once  as  simply  the 
ordinary  scientific  method  of  procedure  when 
it  is  desired  to  make  any  kind  of  an  investi- 
gation, and  it  is  well  known  that  until  this 
method  was  adopted  science  made  practical- 
ly no  progress.  The  ordinary  man,  whether 
mechanic  or  laborer,  if  left  to  himself  seldom 
performs  any  operation  in  the  manner  most 
economical  either  of  time  or  labor,  and  it  has 
been  conclusively  proven  that  even  on  ordi- 


42  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

nary  day  work  a  decided  advantage  can  be 
gained  by  giving  men  instructions  as  to  bow 
to  perform  tbe  work  they  are  set  to  do.  It 
is  perfectly  well  known  tbat  nearly  every 
operation  can  be,  and  in  actual  work  is,  per- 
formed in  a  number  of  different  ways,  and 
it  is  self-evident  tbat  all  of  tliese  ways  are 
not  equally  efficient.  As  a  rule,  some  of  tbe 
metbods  employed  are  so  obviously  inefficient 
tbat  tbey  may  be  discarded  at  once,  but  it  is 
often  a  problem  of  considerable  difficulty  to 
find  out  the  very  best  method. 

To  analyze  every  job  and  make  out  instruc- 
tions as  to  how  to  perform  each  of  the  ele- 
mentary operations  requires  a  great  deal  of 
knowledge,  much  of  which  is  very  difficult  to 
acquire,  but  the  results  obtained  by  this 
method  are  so  great  that  the  expenditure  to 
acquire  the  knowledge  is  comparatively  in- 
significant. 

iisrsTRucTiOasrs. 

As  a  result  of  our  scientific  investigation, 
we  find  in  general  that  it  is  possible  to  do 
about  three  times  as  much  as  is  being  done; 
the  next  problem  is  how  to  get  it  done.  No 
matter  how  thoroughly  convinced  we  may  be 
of  the  proper  method  of  doing  a  piece  of  work 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OF    LABOR  43 

and  of  the  time  it  should  take,  we  cannot 
make  a  man  do  it  unless  he  is  convinced  that 
in  the  long  run  it  will  be  to  his  advantage. 
In  other  words,  we  must  go  about  the  work 
in  such  a  manner  that  the  workman  will  feel 
that  the  compensation  offered  will  be  perma- 
nent. 

When  we  have  established  this  condition 
of  affairs,  we  are  ready  to  start  a  workman 
on  the  task,  which,  when  properly  set  accord- 
ing to  our  investigation,  can  be  done  only  by 
a  skilled  workman  working  at  his  best  normal 
speed.  The  average  workman  will  seldom 
be  able,  at  first,  to  do  more  than  two-thirds 
of  the  task,  and,  as  a  rule,  not  more  than  one 
out  of  five  will  be  able  to  perform  the  task 
at  first.  By  constant  effort,  however,  the 
best  workmen  soon  become  efficient,  and 
even  the  slower  ones  often  learn  to  perform 
tasks  which  for  months  seemed  entirely  be- 
yond them.  If  our  people  have  confidence 
in  us  and  are  willing  to  do  as  we  ask,  the 
problem  of  getting  our  task  work  started  is 
easy.  This,  however,  is  frequently  not  the 
ease,  and  a  long  course  of  training  is  neces- 
sary before  we  can  teach  even  one  workman 
to  perform  his  task  regularly,  for  workmen 
are  very  reluctant  to  go  through  a  course  of 


44  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

training  to  get  a  reward,  especially  when 
they  fear  that  the  high  price  will  be  cut  when 
they  can  earn  it  easily. 

BUYING  LABOR. 

Buying  labor  is  one  of  the  most  important 
operations  in  modern  manufacturing,  yet  it 
is  one  that  is  given  the  least  amount  of  study. 
Most  shops  have  expert  financiers,  expert 
designers,  expert  salesmen,  and  expert  pur- 
chasing agents  for  everything  except  labor. 
The  buying  of  labor  is  usually  left  to  people 
whose  special  work  is  something  else,  with 
the  result  that  it  is  usually  done  in  a  manner 
that  is  very  unsatisfactory  to  buyer  and 
seller.  It  is  admitted  to  be  the  hardest  prob- 
lem we  have  to  face  in  manufacturing  to-day, 
and  yet  it  is  only  con^dered  when  the  man- 
ager ''has  time,"  or  has  'Ho  take  time,"  on 
account  of  "labor  trouble."  The  time  to 
study  this  subject  is  not  when  labor  trouble 
is  brewing,  but  when  employer  and  employee 
have  confidence  in  each  other. 

Men,  as  a  whole  (not  mechanics  only),  pre- 
fer to  sell  their  time  rather  than  their  labor, 
and  to  perform  in  that  time  the  amount  of 
labor  they  consider  proper  for  the  pay  re- 
ceived.   In  other  words,  they  prefer  to  work 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OF    LABOR  45 

by  the  day  and  be  themselves  the  judges  of 
the  amount  of  work  they  shall  do  in  that  day, 
thus  fixing  absolutely  the  price  of  labor  with- 
out regard  to  the  wishes  of  the  employer  who 
pays  the  bill.  While  men  prefer  as  a  rule  to 
sell  their  time,  and  themselves  determine  the 
amount  of  work  they  will  do  in  that  time,  a 
very  large  number  of  them  are  willing  to  do 
any  reasonable  amount  of  work  the  employ- 
er may  specify  in  that  time,  provided  only 
they  are  shown  how  it  can  be  done,  and  paid 
substantial  additional  amounts  of  money  for 
doing  it.  The  additional  amount  needed  to 
make  men  do  as  much  work  as  they  can  de- 
pends upon  how  hard  or  disagreeable  the 
work  is  and  varies  (as  previously  stated) 
from  20  to  100  per  cent,  of  their  day  rate. 

If  the  work  is  light  and  the  workman  is 
not  physically  tired  at  the  end  of  the  day  he 
will  follow  instructions  and  do  all  the  work 
called  for  if  he  can  earn  from  20  to  30  per 
cent,  in  addition  to  his  usual  day's  wages. 
If  the  work  is  severe  and  he  is  physically 
tired  at  the  end  of  the  day  he  requires  from 
40  to  60  per  cent,  additional  to  make  him  do 
his  work.  If  in  addition  to  being  physically 
tired  he  has  been  obliged  to  work  under  dis- 
agreeable conditions  or  in  intense  heat,  he 


46  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

may  require  70  per  cent,  or  even  100  per  cent, 
additional.  These  facts  are  derived  from  ex- 
perience and  give  us  a  key  to  the  intelligent 
purchase  of  labor.  If  we  wish  to  buy  the 
amount  of  labor  needed  to  accomplish  a  cer- 
tain task,  we  must  find  out  exactly,  and  in 
detail,  the  best  method  of  doing  the  work, 
and  then  how  many  hours'  labor  will  be 
needed  by  a  man  suited  to  the  task  working 
at  his  best  normal  rate.  This  is  simply  get- 
ting up  a  set  of  specifications  for  the  labor 
we  wish  to  buy,  and  is  directly  comparable 
to  a  set  of  specifications  for  a  machine  or  a 
machine  tool.  The  man  who  buys  the  latter 
without  specifications  is  often  disappointed 
even  though  the  manufacturer  may  have 
tried  earnestly  to  anticipate  his  wishes;  and 
the  man  who  buys  the  former  under  the  same 
conditions  has  in  the  past  almost  universally 
found  that  a  revision  of  his  contract  price 
was  necessary  in  a  short  time.  The  relative 
importance  of  buying  labor  and  machinery 
according  to  the  best  knowledge  we  can  get, 
and  the  best  specifications  we  can  devise,  is 
best  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  while  the 
purchase  price  of  a  machine  may  be  changed 
whenever  a  new  one  is  bought,  that  of  the 


EFFICIENT    UTILIZATION    OF    LABOR  47 

labor  needed  to  do  a  piece  of  work  should  be 
permanent  when  it  is  once  fixed. 

As  was  said  before,  few  men  can  work  np 
to  these  specifications  at  first,  if  they  are 
properly  drawn,  but  many  men  will  try  if 
they  are  properly  instructed  and  assured  of 
the  ultimate  permanent  reward.  Most  men 
will  not  sacrifice  their  present  wages  to  earn 
a  higher  reward  in  the  future,  and  even  if 
they  were  willing  few  men  could  afford  to. 
Therefore,  while  they  are  learning  to  per- 
form the  task,  they  must  be  able  to  earn  their 
usual  daily  wages,  and  the  reward  for  the 
accomplishment  of  the  task  must  come  in  the 
form  of  a  bonus  above  their  daily  wage. 

Increase  in  efficiency  makes  the  payment 
of  high  wages  possible,  and  it  may  be  added 
that  without  efficient  labor,  high  wages  can- 
not be  paid  indefinitely,  for  every  tvasteful 
operation,  every  mistake,  every  useless  move 
has  to  be  paid  for  hy  somebody,  and  in  the 
long  run  the  ivorkman  has  to  bear  his  share. 
Good  management,  in  which  the  number  of 
mistakes  is  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  use- 
less, or  wasteful  operations  are  eliminated,  is 
so  different  from  poor  management,  in  which 
no  systematic  attempt  is  made  to  do  away 
with  these  troubles,  that  a  man  who  has  al- 


48  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

ways  worked  under  the  latter  finds  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  form  a  conception  of  the 
former.  The  best  type  of  management  is 
that  in  which  all  the  available  knowledge  is 
utilized  to  plan  all  work,  and  when  the  work 
is  done  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  plans 
made.  The  best  mechanical  equipment  of 
a  plant  that  money  can  buy  avails  but  little 
if  labor  is  not  properh"  utilized.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  efficient  utilization  of  labor 
will  often  overcome  the  handicap  of  a  very 
poor  equipment,  and  an  engineer  can  have 
no  greater  asset  than  the  ability  to  handle 
labor  efficienth^ 

The  subject  of  wages  is  then  inextricably 
bound  up  with  that  of  management.  Poor 
management  usually  means  poor  wages. 
Good  management  means  good  wages,  for 
the  high  efficiency  demanded  by  good  man- 
agement can  only  be  maintained  by  such 
wages  as  will  attract  good  men  and  induce 
them  to  work  at  their  highest  efficienG5^ 

The  manager  who  boasts  of  the  low  wages 
he  is  paying  for  his  work  would  generally 
find,  if  he  had  a  reliable  cost  system,  that  his 
costs  were  greater  than  those  of  his  compet- 
itor who  paid  better  wages. 


THE   COMPENSATION   OF   WORKMEN 


Chapter  III 

THE  COMPENSATION  OF  WOEKMEN 

'\X7'E  all  like  to  feel  that  we  are  passing 
away  from  the  age  of  violence,  and 
approaching  an  age  when  justice  and  equity 
will  have  more  influence  in  the  world  than 
brute  force.  If  we  rely  too  much  upon  the 
progress  already  made,  however,  we  are 
bound  to  get  into  trouble.  Kipling  sounded 
a  world  note  in  his  lines: 

"An'  what  'e  thought  'e  might  require, 
'E  went  and  took,  the  same  as  me." 

As  far  then,  as  acquiring  property  was 
concerned,  he  put  the  ancient  Greek  and  the 
modern  Briton  in  the  same  class.  The  Jap- 
anese-Russian war  was  caused  by  the  fact 
that  each  of  two  powerful  nations  wanted 
the  property  of  a  third  weak  one.  Neither 
had  any  right  to  it,  but  the  fact  that  each 
wanted  it  was  enough  to  set  aside  all  ques- 
tions of  right.  Recently  the  seizure  of  the 
provinces  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  by 
Austria  was  another  example  of  an  act  done 

51 


52  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

because  the  aggressor  had  the  power  to  do  it. 
The  present  alarm  in  Great  Britain  over 
Germany's  armaments  is  not  due  to  the  fact 
that  England  thinks  there  is  any  real  cause 
for  a  war,  but  the  fear  that  if  Germany  has 
the  power  it  will  be  used  to  the  detriment  of 
Britain.  In  other  words,  it  is  still  accepted 
as  common  practice  that  "they  should  take 
who  have  the  power  and  they  should  keep 
who  can." 

To  come  a  little  nearer  home,  we  find  that 
large  corporations  are  not  very  much  more 
squeamish,  or  particular,  than  large  nations. 
The  Standard  Oil  Company,  the  Beef  Trust, 
the  Sugar  Trust,  and  any  number  of  others, 
have  absolutely  no  regard,  apparently,  for 
right  or  wrong.  They  get  what  they  can 
by  any  means  available.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  savage  and  civilized  communities 
is  largely  that  the  civilized  communities  have 
enacted  laws  which  tend  to  restrain  individ- 
ual greed.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  it  is  im- 
possible to  foretell  all  the  forms  individual 
greed  may  take,  it  is  impossible  to  enact  in 
advance  laws  to  cover  all  possible  cases,  and 
the  best  that  can  often  be  done  is  to  make 
new  laws  to  restrain  new  forms  of  greed  as 
fast  as  they  develop.    Laws  were  msde  ]nv'* 


THE    COMPENSATION    OF   WORKMEN  53 

ago  that  restrained  robbers,  sneak  thieves, 
and  even  the  *' robber  barons,"  but  none 
have  so  far  been  framed  that  restrain  the 
''high  financier,"  who,  without  giving  any- 
thing in  return,  taxes  tlie  community  for  his 
own  benefit  to  an  extent  that  makes  all  other 
forms  of  acquiring  without  giving  an  equi- 
table return  seem  utterly  insignificant.  One 
of  the  foremost  American  patent  lawyers  not 
long  ago  stated  that  the  tremendous  indus- 
trial success  of  the  United  States  had  been 
largely  brought  about  by  its  beneficent  pat- 
ent laws,  and  yet  the  greatest  part  of  the 
legal  talent  among  the  patent  lawyers  is  en- 
gaged in  evading  those  very  patent  laws, 
which  are  so  beneficent  to  the  community. 
These  statements  only  go  to  show  that  in 
general  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  the  laws  re- 
strain, that  men  fail  to  take  advantage  of 
each  other.  Certainly  there  are  many  hon- 
orable exceptions.  There  are  many  people 
who  are  actuated  by  higher  motives,  and 
who  are  doing  a  great  deal  to  advance  the 
cause  of  equity  and  justice,  and  to  establish 
proper  relations  between  human  beings,  and 
we  give  them  all  credit.  But  if  we  consider 
their  methods  the  rule,  and  base  our  plans 
on  them,  we  shall  find  that  others,  not  quite 


54  WORK,    WAGES,   AXD   PROFITS 

SO  scrupulous  as  we  are,  will  get  the  better 
of  us.  Therefore  in  discussing  the  relations 
between  employer  and  employed,  we  must 
recognize  the  fact  that  in  the  majority  of 
cases,  men  still  act  on  the  principle  that 
''they  should  take  who  have  the  power  and 
they  should  keep  who  can." 

This  is  true  whether  you  are  speaking  of 
employer,  or  employed.  Labor  unions  are 
just  as  insistent  in  their  demands  for  things 
that  do  not  belong  to  them,  as  the  Sugar 
Trust  is  in  its  efforts  to  evade  duties  that  it 
ought  to  pay.  One  of  the  best  illustrations 
of  this  spirit  of  which  I  ever  heard,  was  in- 
cident to  the  ending  of  a  strike  in  a  West- 
ern State,  where  the  labor  union  had  won. 
Soon  after  the  men  had  gone  back  to  work, 
one  of  the  employers  said  to  a  workman,  "I 
hope  you  are  satisfied  now."  "No!"  said 
he,  *'we  are  not  satisfied,  and  we  never  shall 
be,  until  we  come  to  the  works  in  our  car- 
riages, and  you  walk!" 

As  long  as  the  interests  of  the  employer 
and  employee  seem  antagonistic  there  will 
be  conflict,  and  in  any  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject, we  must  recognize  that  antagonism 
means  conflict.  Until  we  can  find  some  means 
of  doing  away  with  the  antagonism,  the  con- 


THE   COMPENSATION    OF   WORKMEN  55 

flict  will  continue.  Onr  search,  then,  must 
be  for  such  means. 

If  the  amount  of  wealth  in  the  world  were 
fixed,  the  struggle  for  the  possession  of  that 
wealth  would  necessarily  cause  antagonism; 
but,  inasmuch  as  the  amount  of  wealth  is  not 
fixed,  but  constantly  increasing,  the  fact  that 
one  man  has  become  wealthy  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  that  someone  else  has  become 
poorer,  but  may  mean  quite  the  reverse,  es- 
pecially if  the  first  is  a  producer  of  wealth. 
The  production  of  wealth  can  be  so  greatly 
facilitated  by  the  co-operation  of  employer 
and  employed  that  it  would  seem  that  if  the 
new  wealth  were  distributed  in  a  manner 
that  had  in  it  even  the  elements  of  equity, 
neither  party  could  afford  to  have  the  work- 
ing arrangement  disturbed. 

As  long,  however,  as  one  party — no  mat- 
ter which — tries  to  get  all  it  can  of  the  new 
wealth,  regardless  of  the  rights  of  the  other, 
conflicts  will  continue. 

On  account  of  the  disregard  of  law  and 
order  that  unions  so  frequently  show  in  their 
strikes,  it  is  the  fashion  in  many  places  to 
condemn  them  as  utterly  bad,  when  they  are 
only  human.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are 
not  all  bad  by  any  means.  They  have  done  a 


56  WORK,    AVAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

great  deal  for  the  cause  of  workmen.  If  it 
had  not  been  for  them,  the  working  people 
of  today  would  probably  be  in  the  same  con- 
dition as  were  those  of  England  sixty  or  a 
hundred  years  ago.  The  average  workman 
is  a  good  citizen,  just  as  loyal  to  his  country 
as  the  capitalist,  and  just  as  proud  of  its  po- 
sition in  the  world.  He  is  even  more  inter- 
ested in  its  prosperity,  for  in  times  of  de- 
pression, when  the  capitalist  loses  his  sur- 
plus, the  workman  loses  his  means  of  living. 
It  is  a  realization,  perhaps,  of  the  small  mar- 
gin that  they  have  above  their  absolute 
needs,  that  makes  workmen  so  liberal  to  each 
other,  for  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the 
wage  earner  is  far  more  liberal  than  the  cap- 
italist. He  will  go  much  further  out  of  his 
way  to  help  a  friend  than  the  rich  man  will, 
although  it  is  much  harder  for  him  to  do  so. 
Our  method  of  studying  labor  problems 
in  detail,  and  studying  the  individual  work- 
men, has  taught  us  much  about  them  and 
given  us  a  high  opinion  of  them  as  men.  The 
proportion  of  high-minded  and  honest  men 
is  just  as  great  among  them  as  among  any 
other  class,  and  far  greater  than  among 
those  people  we  continually  hear  complain- 
ing of  them.    Of  course  there  are  worthless 


THE    COMPENSATION    OF    WORKMEN  57 

and  dishonest  men  among  them,  but  the  pro- 
portion is  no  greater  than  among  those  who 
have  better  opportunities.  There  are  many 
individuals  who  do  what  they  can  to  help 
their  less  fortunate  friends,  and  there  may- 
be unions  formed  to  help  the  poor  workman ; 
but  as  a  business  proposition,  such  a  union 
cannot  long  be  successful.  Unions  are 
formed,  as  a  rule,  by  men  of  energy  to  help 
each  other,  and  the  poor  workman  is  taken  in, 
not  for  the  good  he  does  in  the  union,  but 
the  harm  he  does  if  not  in.  The  poor  work- 
man is  thus  advanced  with  the  good,  and  the 
employer  pays  the  bill. 

It  is  undeniable  that  unions  have  advanced 
the  cause  of  workmen  in  general,  and  we 
must  not  blame  them  for  using  force  to  ac- 
complish their  ends.  It  was  the  only  means 
they  had.  If  we  wish  them  to  use  any  other 
means  we  must  provide  them  with  a  means 
that  they  will  consider  more  desirable,  and 
that  will  give  better  results,  for  in  this  coun- 
try, so  long  as  a  man  conforms  to  the  laws 
of  the  State,  he  has  a  right  to  govern  his 
actions  in  such  a  manner  as  his  interests 
seem  to  dictate.  Men  join  the  union  because 
they  think  they  will  be  better  off  in  the  long 
run  for  being  in  the  union.    The  idea  of  the 


58  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

union  is  to  get  a  higher  rate  of  wages  for 
the  whole  class,  because  in  general  nobody 
in  that  class  can  get  a  substantially  higher 
rate  unless  the  whole  class  gets  a  higher  rate. 

The  employer  usually  pays  but  one  rate  of 
wages  to  one  class  of  workmen,  because,  as 
a  rule,  he  has  no  means  of  gauging  the 
amount  of  work  each  man  does.  It  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  keep  an  exact  record  of  what 
each  of  a  number  of  men  does  each  day ;  and 
even  if  he  had  such  records,  the  difficulty  of 
comparing  them  would  be  very  great,  unless 
the  work  done  by  each  man  was  of  the  same 
nature,  and  done  under  the  same  conditions. 
The  result  is  that  he  keeps  no  individual 
records,  but  usually  treats  all  workmen  of  a 
class  as  equals,  and  pays  them  the  same 
wage.  There  may  be  20  per  cent,  who  are 
very  much  more  efficient  than  the  rest,  but  he 
has  no  way  of  distinguishing  them  from  the 
others  with  any  degree  of  certainty;  hence 
he  declines  to  increase  any  wages,  or  makes 
the  difference  in  wages  insignificant  as  com- 
pared to  the  difference  in  efficiency. 

In  hiring  men  he  offers  the  wages  he  can 
get  the  cheapest  man  for,  and  if  the  good 
man  stood  out  for  higher  wages,  he  would  not 
get  any  wages   at   all.     Hence  if  the  good 


THE    COMPENSATION    OF    WORKMEN  59 

man  is  to  get  high  wages,  the  whole  of  his 
class  must  get  high  wages.  This  is  the 
strongest  argument  for  the  formation  of  la- 
bor unions,  and  when  they  are  successful  in 
raising  the  class  wage,  as  they  have  repeat- 
edly been,  the  employer  is  forced  to  pay  the 
poor  man  more  than  he  is  worth. 

The  desire  of  the  union  to  take  in  all  the 
members  of  its  class  is  not  philanthropic. 
Self-preservation  is  the  first  law  of  nature. 
Under  ordinary  conditions  a  man  will  ad- 
vance himself  first,  and  his  neighbor  next. 
He  will  join  the  union  to  advance  his  own  in- 
terests, and  it  is  only  right  and  natural  that 
he  should  advance  his  own  interests.  Any 
community  made  up  of  people  who  did  not 
advance  their  own  interests  would  very  soon 
go  to  pieces.  If  a  workman  thinks  it  is  to 
his  interest  to  join  a  union,  he  has  a  legal 
right  to  do  so.  If  we  v/ish  to  prevent  him, 
we  must  make  it  to  his  interest  not  to  do  so. 
In  other  words,  we  must  provide  him  with 
means  of  advancing  his  interest  that  is  su- 
perior to  what  the  union  offers.  If  any  such 
scheme  is  to  be  permanently  successful,  it 
must  be  beneficial  to  the  employer  also. 

Under  ordinary  conditions  where  there  is 
no  union,  the  class  wage  is  practically  gauged 


60  WORK,    WAGES,    AJJD    PROFITS 

by  the  wages  the  poor  workman  will  accept, 
and  the  good  workman  soon  becomes  dis- 
couraged and  sets  his  pace  by  that  of  his 
less  efficient  neighbor,  with  the  result  that 
the  general  tone  of  the  shop  is  lowered. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  the  union  has  had 
the  class  wage  raised,  the  inefficient  work- 
man is  demoralized  by  getting  more  than  he 
is  worth,  while  the  efficient  man  still  does 
less  than  he  could,  for  it  is  not  absolute 
wages  that  stimulate  exertion,  but  difference 
in  wages. 

Thus  under  both  non-union  and  union  con- 
ditions, where  no  individual  records  are  kept, 
the  employer  fails  to  get  the  efficiency  he 
should,  and  the  general  tone  of  the  shop  runs 
down.  This  is  very  marked  in  many  old 
shops  which  have  been  successful  in  the  past. 

If  shops  are  to  be  continually  successful 
the  efficiency  of  the  workmen  must  not  only 
not  be  allowed  to  decrease,  but  must  be  sys- 
tematically increased.  Increase  of  efficiency 
is  essentially  a  problem  of  the  manager,  and 
the  amount  to  which  efficiency  can  be  in- 
creased by  proper  management  is  in  most 
cases  so  great  as  to  be  almost  incredible. 
Decrease  in  efficiency  is  not,  as  a  rule,  the 
fault  of  the  workmen,  but  of  the  manage- 


THE    COMPENSATION    OF    WORKMEN  61 

ment,  and  the  manager  who  continually  com- 
plains of  the  decreasing  efficiency  of  labor  is 
simply  advertising  his  own  incompetence. 

There  are  only  two  methods  of  paying  for 
work ;  one  is  for  the  time  the  man  spends  on 
the  work,  and  the  other  is  for  the  amount 
of  work  he  does.  The  first  is  day  work.  The 
second  is  piece  work.  All  other  systems, 
whatever  may  be  their  name,  are  combina- 
tions of  these  two  elementary  methods  in  dif- 
ferent proportions.  It  is  natural  that  the 
employer  should  wish  to  get  all  the  work  he 
can  for  the  money  he  spends.  It  is  also  nat- 
ural that  the  workman  should  wish  to  get  all 
the  money  he  can  for  the  time  he  spends. 
Any  other  condition  would  be  wrong,  would 
be  almost  suicidal.  These  two  conditions 
seem  to  be  so  antagonistic  that  most  people 
give  up  any  attempt  to  harmonize  them,  and 
adopt  a  scheme  of  bargaining.  Bargains,  as 
a  rule,  are  made  for  a  definite  length  of  time, 
at  the  end  of  which  they  are  revised.  Under 
such  a  system  the  most  aggressive  group,  or 
the  one  that  has  the  most  favorable  condi- 
tions, wins  in  the  long  run. 


DAY  WORK 


Chapter  IV 
DAY  WORK 

DAY  WORK,  or  that  in  which  men  are 
paid  for  the  time  they  spend,  may  be 
divided  into  two  ckisses ;  first,  ordinary  day 
work  in  which  there  is  no  attempt  made  to 
keep  individual  records,  and  every  man  of 
a  ckiss  receives  the  same  wages  regardless 
of  the  amount  of  work  he  does ;  second,  that 
in  which  the  work  is  carefully  planned  be- 
forhand  so  that  each  man  can  have  contin- 
uous work,  and  so  that  an  exact  record  can 
be  kept  of  what  he  does,  and  his  rate  of  pay 
adjusted  accordingly. 

The  day  rate  of  any  class  of  men,  such  as 
laborers,  weavers,  machinists,  moulders,  etc., 
is  regulated  by  supply  and  demand,  except 
where  it  is  regulated  by  the  union;  and  in 
times  of  extreme  depression  even  the  unions 
are  unable  to  keep  up  the  rate.  The  rate 
may  be,  and  usually  is,  different  in  different 
localities.  Under  the  condition  where  no  in- 
dividual records  are  kept,  it  does  not  make 
much  difference  whether  one  man  is  more 

65 


66  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

efficient  than  another  or  not;  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  him  to  get  a  higher  rate  of 
wages  than  the  rest  of  them.  If  the  pay  of 
one  is  raised,  others  are  apt  to  claim  that 
they  also  are  entitled  to  an  increase,  and  in 
the  absence  of  records  it  is  impossible  often 
to  disprove  their  claim.  To  save  discussion, 
then,  and  possible  trouble,  the  employer  de- 
clines to  sanction  any  increase  of  pay.  The 
industrious  and  efficient  man  naturally  be- 
comes dissatisfied  and  gradually  slackens  his 
pace  to  that  of  the  poorer  workman.  Thus 
the  employer,  who  pays  only  the  rate  the 
poorer  man  can  earn,  gets  only  the  efficiency 
he  pays  for,  even  from  his  capable  man,  who 
thus  works  far  below  his  capacity. 

This  method  of  buying  labor  is  similar  to 
buying  all  materials  sold  under  the  same 
name  at  the  same  i^rice,  without  regard  to 
quality;  but  it  is  much  more  wasteful,  as  the 
difference  in  the  quality  of  materials  is  sel- 
dom as  great  as  the  range  of  efficiency  in 
workmen. 

The  result  of  this  policy — and  it  is  the 
logical  result — is  that  the  efficient  man,  the 
man  with  boundless  energy  to  spare,  says : 
*'I  can't  get  any  more  money  by  doing  more 
work.    I  am  going  to  see  if  I  can  get  it  some 


DAY    "WORK  67 

other  way."  Then  he  organizes  all  his  fel- 
lows into  a  union,  and  they  all  say,  *'We 
want  more  money ! ' '  and  they  get  it,  and  no 
man  cares  whether  he  does  more  work  or 
not.  The  moral  tone  of  the  shop  and  the 
community  is  lowered,  as  is  always  the  case 
when  there  is  a  resort  to  force. 

In  the  second  class  of  day  work  some  intel- 
ligent man  studies  the  work  to  be  done,  lays 
it  out  carefully,  perhaps  several  days  ahead, 
provides  the  proper  appliances,  divides  it  up 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  can  be  done  by  in- 
dividuals or  by  men  in  small  gangs,  so  an 
exact  record  can  be  kept  of  what  each  indi- 
vidual or  gang  does,  and  compensation  be 
made  accordingly.  Such  a  method  of  hand- 
ling workmen  has  exactly  the  reverse  ef- 
fect, and  their  efficiency  begins  to  increase  at 
once.  When  we  increase  one  man's  wages 
because  his  record  shows  he  deserves  it,  it 
not  only  does  not  cause  trouble  with  the  other 
workmen,  but  it  acts  as  a  stimulus  to  them, 
and  we  are  glad  to  have  each  workman  know 
what  the  others  are  making. 

It  is  difficult  and  often  impossible,  es- 
pecially at  first,  to  plan  all  the  work  of  a 
plant  and  to  keep  a  record  of  each  workman, 
but  some  planning  can  be  done,  and  some  rec- 


X 

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O 

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s"Ed 

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- 

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68 


DAY   WORK  69 

ords  kept  in  almost  every  case ;  and  if  a  few 
steps  in  this  direction  are  taken,  the  advan- 
tage of  taking  more  will  soon  become  evident. 

Some  years  ago  it  became  necessary  to 
lay  off  about  ten  moulders  in  a  foundry  work- 
ing on  day  work  with  the  record  system. 
The  superintendent  sent  for  the  records,  and 
having  inspected  them,  he  sent  the  foreman 
a  list  of  the  men  to  be  laid  off.  There  was 
a  great  complaint,  in  which  the  foreman 
joined,  that  the  wrong  men  had  been  se- 
lected, and  that  some  of  these  men  were  the 
best  in  the  shop.  The  superintendent  in- 
vited an  inspection  of  the  records,  which  the 
foreman  had  never  been  willing  to  pay  any 
attention  to  before,  with  the  result  that 
everybody  was  satisfied,  and  the  efficiency  of 
those  remaining  soon  showed  a  very  marked 
improvement. 

If  the  conditions  are  such  that  we  can 
plan  out  the  work  ahead  of  time,  we  will  get 
a  fair  degree  of  efficiency  by  keeping  indi- 
vidual records  of  the  workmen,  and  raising 
their  day  rate  accordingly.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  a  better  efficiency  can  be  obtained  by 
this  method  than  by  the  ordinary  system  of 
piece  work,  where  the  rates  are. set  by  past 


70  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

records  or  the  estimates  of  the  foreman ;  and 
the  tone  of  the  shop  is  far  better. 

We  began  the  use  of  individual  records  in 
a  steel  foundry  in  1888,  and  have  since  al- 
ways tried  to  plan  our  work  so  that  records 
could  be  kept.  With  the  introduction  of  our 
task  and  bonus  system  in  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works,  in  1901,  the  method  of  keeping 
these  records  became  standardized.  Page  68 
shows  a  sample  of  the  man-record  sheet  in- 
troduced in  the  works  of  the  American  Loco- 
motive Co.  in  1902. 

Not  long  ago  a  large  contractor  in  New 
York,  who  had  been  studying  methods  of 
handling  his  workmen  efficiently,  spent  some 
time  on  one  of  his  large  excavating  jobs. 
He  provided  a  sufficient  number  of  buckets, 
so  that  each  man  was  always  shoveling  into 
a  bucket  by  himself,  and  kept  track  of  the 
buckets  filled  by  each  man.  At  once  the  num- 
ber of  buckets  that  came  out  of  the  hole  was 
doubled. 

No  record  can,  as  a  rule,  be  kept  of  men 
doing  miscellaneous  work  unless  it  is  prop- 
erly planned  ahead  of  time  with  that  object 
in  view.  If  it  is  intelligently  planned  and 
an  increased  compensation  given  for  in- 
creased efficiency,  an  improvement  will  re- 


DAT   WORK  71 

suit  which  will  far  more  than  pay  for  the 
expense  of  planning  and  record-keeping. 

If,  then,  you  train  a  man  to  be  efficient  and 
adopt  a  system  of  management  which  en- 
ables him  to  utilize  all  of  his  energies  in  pro- 
ductive work,  you  can  afford  to  pay  him  far 
higher  wages  than  he  can  get  where  the 
workmen  are  not  trained  and  where  the  sys- 
tem of  management  is  not  such  as  will  en- 
able him  to  work  continuously  and  efficiently. 

A  weaver  in  a  cotton  mill  accustomed  to 
having  his  warp  ready  and  filling  properly 
supplied,  complains  very  bitterly  if  anything 
goes  wrong.  A  man  accustomed  to  having 
materials  and  appliances  provided,  objects 
strongly  to  being  obliged  to  hunt  up  his  own 
materials  or  appliances,  even  if  he  is  re- 
quired to  get  a  correspondingly  smaller 
amount  of  output.  We  have  had  many  ex- 
amples of  workmen  trained  to  work  under 
an  efficient  system  of  management,  who  ob- 
jected to  working  under  an  inefficient  system. 

One  of  the  best  examples  of  this  occurred 
at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  where  men 
were  unloading  coal  from  cars  at  a  rate  of 
four  cents  per  ton.  They  heard  that  men 
were  getting  six  cents  a  ton  in  Pittsburgh  for 
this  work,  and  six  of  them  left  and  went  to 


72  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

Pittsburgli.  At  Bethleliem  they  were  work- 
ing two  men  on  a  car.  At  Pittsburgli  six  or 
seven  men  were  put  on  a  car,  and  tliese  Beth- 
lehem men  were  spread  around,  so  that  there 
were  always  strangers  on  the  car  with  them. 
They  started  to  work  just  as  hard  as  at 
Bethlehem,  but  the  other  fellows  didn't.  The 
harder  these  trained  men  worked,  the  less 
the  others  did.  The  faster  workers  very 
soon  slowed  up,  and  in  about  two  months  the 
whole  gang  came  back,  and  said  they  could 
not  make  as  much  money  at  Pittsburgh  in  the 
large  gangs  at  higher  wages  as  they  did  at 
Bethlehem  at  lower  wages.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  men  in  large  gangs  do  not 
work  as  efficiently  as  men  do  individually,  or 
in  small  gangs,  but  the  man  in  charge  of  the 
work  in  Pittsburgh  apparently  did  not  know 
it. 

To  summarize:  If  you  keep  an  exact  rec- 
ord of  what  each  worker  does,  surround  the 
men  with  conditions  under  which  they  can 
work  at  high  efficiency,  and  compensate  the 
efficient  ones  liberally,  no  man  will  spend  his 
spare  time  trying  to  find  out  how  to  raise  the 
wages  of  the  other  fellow.  Workmen,  as  a 
rule,  will  do  more  work  if  their  earnings  are 
increased  by  so  doing,  and  you  will  find  great 


DAY    WORK  73 

difficulty  in  getting  the  efficient  ones  into  la- 
bor unions  if  they  are  not  benefited  by  join- 
ing. 

The  point  that  seems  very  clear  is  that  the 
employer  is  quite  as  much  responsible  for 
the  labor  unions  as  the  men  are  themselves, 
and  that  he  can  never  expect  to  adjust  his 
difficulties  with  the  employees  until  he  fur- 
nishes them  with  a  means  of  accomplishing 
their  ends  (namely,  bettering  their  condition 
and  getting  more  money)  which  will  appeal 
to  them  as  being  better  than  the  means  that 
they  are  now  using;  for  as  was  said  before, 
so  long  as  he  conforms  to  the  laws  of  the 
State  the  workman  has  a  right  to  govern  his 
actions  in  the  manner  that  will  best  subserve 
his  own  interests.  As  we  cannot  make  him 
do  an^/thing,  we  must  accomplish  our  object 
by  convincing  him  that  what  we  offer  is  bet- 
ter than  what  he  already  has.  When  he  is 
convinced,  the  problem  is  solved. 


PIECE  WORK 


Chapter  V 
PIECE  WOEK 

THE  one  fact  underlying  the  philosophy 
of  labor  management  developed  in  the 
preceding  chapters,  is  that  it  is  not  the  work- 
men who  are  chiefly  at  fault  for  the  incon- 
sistency and  inefficiency  of  most  payroll  dis- 
bursements, but  the  system  generally  used 
in  handling  the  workmen.  Under  the  sys- 
tem that  oftenest  exists  we  cannot  expect  the 
workman  to  be  much  different  from  what  he 
is.  If  we  were  in  his  place,  we  should  prob- 
ably do  as  he  does.  We  should  want  to  make 
the  best  living  we  could  for  our  families,  and 
if  by  working  honestly  and  conscientiously 
we  could  not  make  any  more  money,  and  if 
we  had  tried  it  over  and  over  again,  and  still 
could  not  get  any  more,  even  though  we  did 
twice  or  three  times  as  much  as  the  poorer 
worker  beside  us,  we  should  do  the  same 
thing  the  average  worker  now  does ;  namely, 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  system  un- 
der which  we  were  working  had  no  provi- 
sion for  compensating  the  individual  accord- 
77 


78  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

ing  to  his  deserts,  and  that  the  only  way  we 
could  get  more  money  for  our  services  was 
to  get  the  wage  rate  of  our  class  raised,  and 
take  steps  to  this  end. 

This  is  exactly  what  the  men  do.  The  em- 
ployer has  forced  them  into  a  class  by  keep- 
ing their  wages  uniform,  and  it  is  but  a  short 
step  from  such  a  class  to  a  union.  With  the 
union  comes  first  collective  bargaining,  then 
demands,  then  strikes.  This  is  a  logical 
series,  for  a  successful  bargainer  always 
wants  a  better  bargain  next  time,  and  the 
demand  that  is  successful  is  very  apt  to  be 
followed  later  by  one  that  will  jdeld  more 
still,  even  if  it  takes  force  to  sustain  it. 

As  was  said  in  a  previous  chapter,  most 
workmen  are  good  citizens,  and  if  we  can 
show  them  peaceful  means  by  which  they  can 
get  equitable  compensation,  they  will  have 
but  little  desire  to  resort  to  force.  As  has 
been  said  before,  we  recognize  that  our 
method  of  keeping  individual  records  and 
compensating  the  individual  accordingly  is 
not  easy,  and  in  many  cases  may  be  impossi- 
ble, but  we  have  found  that  an  honest  ef- 
fort to  do  it  has  always  produced  a  feeling 
of  confidence  and  loyalty  among  the  work- 
men, which  added  much  to  their  efficiency. 


PIECE    WORK  79 

So  far  our  discussion  of  tlie  subject  has 
related  only  to  day  work.  An  investigation  of 
the  subject  of  piece  work  also  reveals  incon- 
sistencies similar  to  those  already  consid- 
ered. In  the  term  piece  work  we  include  all 
the  various  schemes  for  compensating  men 
for  what  they  do,  instead  of  for  the  amount 
of  time  they  uwrk.  It  may  be  divided  into 
two  general  classes. 

The  first  is  that  in  which  a  price  for  a  job 
is  set  from  previous  records  or  from  the  es- 
timate of  a  foreman,  who  generally  considers 
his  duty  done  when  he  has  set  the  price. 

This  method  is  the  one  in  general  use  and 
until  recently  it  has  been  almost  exclusively 
employed.  In  recent  years,  however,  it  has 
been  very  generally  modified  in  order  to 
avoid  the  troubles  that  have  so  frequently  fol- 
lowed such  piece  work  in  the  past.  The  fol- 
lowing reasons  seem  to  be  amply  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  labor  troubles  that  have 
been  caused  by  this  kind  of  piece  work. 

Records  of  what  has  been  done  are  only 
a  very  poor  indication  of  what  can  be  done 
by  a  capable  and  industrious  workman,  and 
still  may  be  far  beyond  the  possibilities  of 
an  ordinary  workman  who  has  not  had  spe- 
cial training  in  the  work. 


80  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

Estimates  of  a  busy  foreman  as  to  how 
long  it  should  take  to  do  a  new  job  must 
necessarily  be  inaccurate,  and  rates  set  by 
his  estimates  are  practically  guesses.  After 
the  workmen  have  become  skilled,  their  earn- 
ings will  increase  greatly  and  will  often  be 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  exertion  put 
forth. 

Under  these  conditions  an  adjustment  of 
the  prices  based  on  the  new  records  is  made ; 
and,  as  the  workmen  become  more  skillful, 
it  is  done  again.  Thus  the  more  skilled  the 
workman  becomes,  and  the  more  progress  he 
makes,  the  greater  the  penalty  he  has  to  suf- 
fer, for  his  jDrices  are  being  continually  re- 
duced so  that  he  earns  but  little  more  than 
the  incomiDetent  man,  who  has  never  been 
able  to  do  his  work  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
exceed  greatly  the  old  records. 

The  effect  of  this  method  of  penalizing  the 
good  workman  in  proportion  to  his  increased 
effort  is  to  discourage  him  so  that  he  learns 
ultimately  to  limit  his  output  by  that  of  the 
poor  workman.  This  result  is  so  natural 
that  we  should  not  be  surprised  at  it,  nor 
should  we  condemn  it,  unless  we  make  it  to 
the  interest  of  the  workman  to  do  otherwise. 
His  desire  for  more  money  continues,  how- 


PIECE   WORK  81. 

ever,  and  when  lie  finds  liis  piece  rate  re- 
duced whenever  he  earns  mucli  more  than 
the  average  workman,  he  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  as  his  employer  seems  deter- 
mined to  keep  him  in  his  class  so  far  as  com- 
pensation is  concerned,  he  will  see  what  he 
can  do  to  better  the  financial  condition  of 
the  class. 

The  fact  that  lie  has  had  to  suffer  a  pen- 
alty for  trying  to  advance  himself  by  legit- 
imate methods,  however,  has  caused  him  to 
feel  that  might  is  more  powerful  in  the  world 
than  right.  No  better  way  could  possibly 
be  taken  to  teach  him  the  value  of  force  in 
accomplishing  his  ends. 

We  cannot  blame  him  if  he  now  spends  his 
extra  energy  in  forming  his  union,  for  in  the 
past  unions  have  done  more  for  the  work- 
man than  he  could  do  for  himself.  If  we 
wish  him  to  abandon  the  use  of  force,  we 
must  assure  him  of  an  equitable  return  for 
his  efforts  without  it.  Inasmuch  as  in  the 
union,  as  was  i^reviously  shown,  the  good 
man  seldom  gets  all  he  is  worth,  we  can  get 
the  good  men  on  our  side,  if  we  can  convince 
them  that  their  efforts  will  be  adequately 
rewarded. 

This  brings  us   to  the  second  system  of 


82  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

piece  work,  whicli  when  properly  operated 
provides  a  complete  system  of  instruction 
for  the  workman,  equitable  compensation  for 
his  efforts,  and  opportunity  for  advance- 
ment on  his  own  merits,  and  not  through 
"pull"  or  friendship.  So  far  this  system 
has  never  failed  to  create  a  strong  spirit  of 
harmony  and  co-operation. 

The  essentials  of  this  system  are: 

FmsT,  to  have  the  best  expert  available 
investigate  in  detail  every  piece  of  work, 
and  find  out  the  best  method  and  the  shortest 
time  for  doing  it  with  the  appliances  to  be 
had. 

Second,  to  develop  a  standard  method  for 
doing  the  work,  and  to  set  a  maximum  time 
which  a  good  workman  should  need  to  ac- 
complish it. 

Thikd,  to  find  capable  workmen,  who  can 
do  the  work  in  the  time  and  manner  set,  or 
to  teach  an  ordinary  workman  to  do  it. 

Fourth,  whenever  the  high  efficiency  is  ob- 
tained, to  compensate  liberally  not  only  the 
workman  actually  doing  the  work,  but  also 
those  who  supply  him  with  materials  and  ap- 
pliances to  enable  him  to  maintain  the  effi- 
ciency specified. 

Fifth,  to  find  among  the  workmen  who 


PIECE   WORK  83 

have  learned  the  best  ways  of  doing  work, 
some  that  can  investigate  and  teach,  and  thus 
gradually  to  get  recruits  for  the  corps  of  ex- 
perts, so  that  the  system  may  be  self-per- 
petuating. 

Sixth.  The  ordinary  foreman  of  the  shop 
must  not  be  called  upon  to  do  the  work  of 
the  expert.  His  business  under  the  usual 
conditions  of  management  is  that  of  an  ex- 
ecutive, and  he  is  invariably  so  busy  attend- 
ing to  his  routine  duties  that  he  has  but  lit- 
tle time  to  make  investigations  into  the  best 
method  of  doing  work.  He  can  only  give  in- 
structions according  to  the  experience  he  has 
had  in  the  past,  or  according  to  the  knowl- 
edge he  may  pick  up  at  odd  times.  Again, 
he  frequently  feels  compelled  to  allow  work 
to  be  done  inefficiently  because  he  has  no  man 
that  can  do  it  better,  and  no  time  to  train  a 
new  man.  For  these  reasons  it  is  desirable 
that  the  development  of  improved  methods, 
the  setting  of  tasks  in  accordance  with  these 
methods,  and  the  training  of  workmen  to 
perform  these  tasks,  should  be  in  the  hands 
of  some  one  other  than  the  foreman. 

For  this  purpose  the  best  expert  mechanic 
available  should  be  selected.  Such  a  man 
may  not  have  qualities  at  all  fitting  him  to 


84  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

be  a  foreman — in  fact,  the  best  expert  usually 
makes  but  a  poor  foreman.  He  is  generally 
so  absorbed  in  tlie  mechanical  operations 
themselves  that  the  improvement  of  them 
becomes  a  passion  with  him,  and  nothing 
pleases  him  more  than  to  see  numbers  of 
machines  operating  at  their  highest  efficiency, 
the  result  of  his  work.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  foreman  with  this  kind  of  a  mind  often 
sacrifices  other  sources  of  efficiency  for  this 
object.  The  expert  must  be  a  good  mechanic, 
with  fair  education.  He  must  have  indus- 
try, originality,  persistence,  and  an  ability 
to  remove  obstacles,  not  once,  but  repeatedly. 

Such  an  expert  in  a  shop  will  study  the 
machines  individually  and  teach  workmen  to 
bring  each  up  to  its  highest  efficiency. 

While  the  policy  advocated  in  the  above 
paragraphs  cannot  be  called  a  system  of 
management,  the  elements  described  must  be 
parts  of  any  good  system.  Each  individual 
problem  of  manufacture  must  be  studied  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  determine  how  the  work 
can  be  done  in  the  most  efficient  way. 

There  is  no  use  in  attempting  to  increase 
efficiency,  however,  unless  it  is  done  in  a  sys- 
tematic manner.  Managers  will  often  tell 
you  that  you  cannot  put  into  their  shops 


PIECE    WORK  85 

methods  of  this  character,  and,  under  the 
conditions  that  exist,  they  are  right.  In 
many  places  you  cannot  at  once  better  the 
evident  inefficiencies  that  exist,  for  the  ma- 
chinery is  often  so  arranged  that  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  do  anything  different 
from  what  is  already  being  done. 

Most  plants  have  grown  from  small  begin- 
nings, and  have  been  added  to  without  any 
definite  plan,  or  any  real  idea  of  the  system 
to  be  used  in  operating  them.  In  many  cases 
the  character  of  the  work  has  changed,  and 
a  plant  well  adapted  for  one  class  of  work 
may  be  so  arranged  as  to  make  it  impossible 
to  do  another  class  of  work  efficiently.  Then 
there  are  plants  in  which  the  machinery  has 
been  arranged  without  considering  the  sub- 
ject of  efficient  management.  In  most  plants, 
at  least  one  of  the  above  conditions  exists  to 
such  an  extent  that  much  of  the  machinery 
must  be  rearranged  to  make  any  great  im- 
provement. 

Then  there  are  some  people  who  have  no 
idea  of  doing  anything  in  a  systematic  man- 
ner. They  cannot  do  anything  twice  the  same 
way.  They  may  be  very  good  people,  with 
an  artistic  temperament,  perhaps,  or  they 
may   be   chronic    inventors.      They   like   to 


86  WOKK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

change  things.  If  you  have  a  man  like  that 
at  the  head,  and  succeed  once  in  getting  the 
plant  organized  for  efficient  work,  he  will 
want  to  change  things  again  to-morrow.  Such 
a  man  is  not  a  manufacturer,  and  will  make 
a  much  greater  success  at  something  else. 
To  attempt  to  make  permanent  under  such 
a  man  an  efficient  arrangement  of  machinery, 
or  system  of  management,  is  futile. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  man  at  the  head 
is  systematic,  and  while  capable  of  recog- 
nizing an  improvement,  is  slow  at  making 
changes  unless  he  can  see  distinct  benefit 
from  them,  the  conditions  for  instituting 
such  reforms  as  will  permanently  add  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  plant  are  ideal. 

When  we  have  once  established  our  sys- 
tem of  management  by  which  the  work  is 
done  economically,  and  the  workmen  get 
higher  pay,  they  themselves  offer  the  strong- 
est opposition  to  change,  for  they  will  stand 
by  a  good  system  under  which  they  are  ben- 
efited quite  as  staunchly  as  they  did  by  the 
forty-year-old  method  it  replaced,  the  only 
virtue  of  which,  perhaps,  was  its  age. 

Before  beginning  to  introduce  the  methods 
described  we  must  study  the  conditions  un- 
der which  the  work  is  to  be  done.     The  ma- 


PIECE   "WORK  87 

cliinery  must  be  so  arranged  that  the  work 
can  be  done  economically,  and  provision  must 
be  made  to  have  the  proper  materials  and 
appliances  always  available  for  the  work- 
men. This  is  a  question  of  management,  and 
may  have  quite  as  much  effect  on  the  proper 
operation  of  a  plant  as  anything  the  work- 
men can  do.* 

Having  placed  our  machinery  so  that  it 
can  be  operated  efficiently  and  arranged  for 
a  proper  provision  of  materials  and  appli- 
ances, the  first  problem  is  to  determine  the 
best  way  of  doing  a  piece  of  work.  Usually 
there  are  in  every  shop  some  workmen  who 
are  much,  more  capable  than  the  others.  If 
the  best  of  these  can  be  interested  in  our 
work,  the  problem  of  studying  the  work  in 
detail  is  much  simplified.  In  connection  with 
such  workmen,  our  observer,  or  ' '  time  study ' ' 
man,  can  make  a  detailed  scientific  study  of 
all  the  elements  of  a  piece  of  work  and  de- 
termine the  best  method  for  doing  it  and  the 
shortest  time  in  which  it  can  be  properly 
done  by  an  experienced  man  working  at  his 
best  normal  speed.    Having  determined  such 

*A   paper   presented   before  the   American    Society   of 

Mechanical     Engineers,     July,  1903,     and    entitled     "A 

Graphical  Daily  Balance  in  Manufacture,"  goes  into 
this  subject  somewhat. 


88  WOKK,    WAGES,    AXD    PROFITS 

a  time  and  method,  tliey  are  adopted  as 
standards,  and  the  workmen  should  be 
awarded  liberal  compensation  for  doing  the 
work  by  the  method  and  in  the  time  set. 

As  a  rule  it  is  best  to  stud}^  if  possible, 
the  work  as  done  by  several  good  workmen. 
If  it  is  understood  that  the  most  efficient  will 
be  given  the  work  at  a  fair  rate,  we  are 
usually  able  to  secure  their  co-operation  in 
fixing  that  rate. 

If  it  is  necessary  to  train  several  work- 
men, the  very  best  man  should  be  made  an 
instructor  and  compensated  liberally  for 
teaching  the  others  his  knowledge  and  skill. 

In  machine  shops,  or  other  i^laces  where 
many  tasks  are  to  be  set,  the  investigator  or 
task  setter  should  be  the  most  expert  work- 
man available,  and  his  compensation  should 
be  such  as  to  make  him  jealous  of  his  job. 
If  any  workman  often  succeeds  in  doing  the 
work  in  less  than  the  time  set,  we  mark  him 
— not  to  have  his  rate  cut — but  as  a  prom- 
ising candidate  for  an  instructor's,  or  task- 
setter's,  job.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  our  trained 
workers  often  yield  a  good  supply  of  instruc- 
tors and  occasionally  a  task-setter. 

We  thus  provide  means  for  the  workman 
to  learn  the  best  practice  we  can  devise,  and 


PIECE   WORK  89 

not  only  compensate  him  liberally  for  fol- 
lowing it,  but  give  liim  a  chance  to  advance 
himself  still  further  if  he  has  the  ability  to 
do  so.  • 

When  it  is  clearly  understood  that  we  mean 
to  do  this,  we  have  no  difficulty  in  securing 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  workmen. 

After  a  proper  study  we  should  know  the 
time  needed  by  a  good  man  to  do  the  work 
with  the  same  certainty  that  we  know  it  is 
possible  for  a  good  healthy  man  to  walk 
four  miles  per  hour  for  several  hours.  We 
know,  however,  that  if  we  go  out  into  the 
street,  and  ask  a  dozen  men  at  random  to 
walk  to  a  place  four  miles  off  in  an  hour, 
they  will  all  probably  have  great  difficulty 
in  doing  it.  If  we  ask  them  to  go  eight  miles 
in  two  hours,  the  great  majority  of  them 
will  fail.  If  we  extend  the  walk  to  twelve 
miles  in  three  hours,  almost  none  of  them 
will  accomplish  it.  Suppose,  however,  we 
know  a  man  who  can  walk  four  miles  per 
hour  readily,  and  get  him  to  teach  others  to 
do  it.  If  we  make  it  to  the  interest  of  the 
others  to  do  as  they  are  taught,  our  expert 
can  soon  teach  them  by  walking  them,  per- 
haps, the  first  day,  only  one  mile  in  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour;  the  second  day,  two  miles 


90  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

in  half  an  hour;  in  a  day  or  two  four  miles 
in  an  hour,  then  six  miles  in  an  hour  and  a 
half.  He  soon  gets  them  so  they  can  walk 
day  after  day  at  that  rate  without  any  diffi- 
culty. We  have  the  same  problem  in  doing 
any  kind  of  work.  If  a  man  is  trained  to  do 
a  certain  kind  of  work  at  a  certain  speed,  he 
will  do  it  at  that  speed,  even  though  it  may 
have  been  absolutely  impossible  for  him  to 
do  it  at  that  rate  before  he  was  trained. 

Training  takes  time,  and  training  a  man 
to  work  rapidly  and  well  is  a  much  more 
difficult  job  than  training  a  man  to  walk  fast. 
Therefore,  rcfter  our  expert  has  found  the 
best  way  and  the  best  speed  for  doing  certain 
work,  his  job  is  still  often  only  half  done.  He 
must  find  somebody  who  can  be  trained  to  do 
it  in  that  way  at  that  speed.  Frequently 
we  know  it  should  be  done  at  that  speed,  but 
cannot  find  anybody  to  do  it.  Our  investiga- 
tion may  show  that  a  job  can  be  done  in  an 
hour,  and  yet  the  best  result  we  can  get  may 
be  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  or  an  hour  and  a 
half.  Every  worker  in  the  place  may  say 
he  cannot  do  it,  and  nobody  may  be  willing 
to  try.  But  if  our  studies  are  correct,  and  if 
we  patiently  train  people,  experience  proves 
that  we  can  eventually  get  some  one  to  do  it. 


PIECE   WORK  91 

If  the  man  who  is  doing  tlie  work  is  suc- 
cessful in  performing  his  task  in  the  time 
and  manner  specified,  he,  of  course,  gets  ex- 
tra compensation;  but  this  is  not  enough. 
The  men  who  supplj^  him  with  the  means  of 
doing  the  work  must  also  get  extra  compen- 
sation, for  unless  you  can  make  it  to  their 
financial  interest  to  co-operate,  the  worker 
may  fail  for  want  of  their  co-operation.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  they  do  get  extra  compen- 
sation when  the  individual  is  successful, 
there  will  be  a  complaint  from  some  one  if 
he  is  not  successful.  If  his  failure  is  due  to 
the  man  supplying  the  materials  this  man 
will  be  criticised,  not  so  much  by  the  super- 
intendent as  by  the  workman  himself.  If  the 
workman  often  fails  from  his  own  ineffi- 
ciency, the  helper,  who  also  loses,  will  com- 
plain. Not  long  ago  an  illustration  of  this 
occurred  in  a  cotton  mill.  A  slow-moving 
fellow  you  would  hardly  think  could  do  a  full 
day's  work,  finally  woke  up,  and  became  a 
good  weaver,  earning  his  extra  compensation 
nearly  every  day.  One  day  the  proper  "fill- 
ing" was  not  ready  for  him  in  time.  The 
foreman  heard  a  great  row  in  the  weave 
room,  and,  looking  around,  found  this  fellow 
about  ready  to  take  off  the  head  of  the  man 


92  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

whose  duty  it  was  to  supply  the  filling.  That 
man  had  energy  enough,  but  he  had  only  re- 
cently learned  to  use  it,  and  the  object  les- 
son he  gave  helped  the  whole  room. 

After  we  have  studied  a  job  and  set  the 
task,  it  should  be  our  invariable  rule  never 
to  change  it  unless  we  change  the  method  of 
doing  it.  If,  in  spite  of  careful  study,  we 
find  we  have  made  a  mistake,  we  must  sim- 
ply accept  the  consequences  of  that  mistake. 
We  may  some  day  find  a  better  way  of  doing 
the  job.  In  this  case  we  may  change  the  task 
by  adopting  that  as  our  method,  and  teach- 
ing it  to  the  workmen.  As  long  as  the  work 
is  done  by  the  same  method,  however,  we 
should  seriously  impair  the  efficiency  of  the 
whole  place  if  we  attempted  to  increase  the 
difficulty  of  the  task.  Supjoose  we  have  de- 
cided, after  careful  study,  that  10  pieces 
is  a  day's  work.  If  our  people  become  ex- 
ceptionally skillful  and  do  12  or  14,  it  is  well 
worth  our  while  to  have  them  do  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  an  attempt  is  made  to 
increase  the  task  as  the  workers  become  more 
skillful,  the  workmen  will  logically  decline 
to  do  the  increased  task,  if  the  original  task 
is  a  fair  one.  Suppose  the  employer  insists 
on  his  point,  and  lets  his  trained  workers  go. 


PIECE    WORK  93 

If  his  task  is  a  proper  one,  his  new  gang  will 
be  unable,  as  a  rule,  to  do  more  than  half 
as  much  as  his  trained  gang,  aud  hence  he 
will  need  twice  as  many  people  and  twice  as 
much  space  to  get  out  the  same  product. 
Twice  as  many  people  require  at  least  twice 
as  much  supervision,  and  if  they  are  un- 
trained and  new  in  the  shop,  more  than  twice 
as  much.  In  addition,  the  product  of  the  un- 
trained workers  is  sure  to  be  decidedly  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  good  workers,  and  alto- 
gether the  loss  to  the  employer  is  likely  to 
be  many  times  the  joossible  gain  by  the  sav- 
ing in  wages. 

When,  therefore,  we  have  a  lot  of  efficient 
men,  working  harmoniously,  we  can  afford 
to  pay  them  big  wages  rather  than  try  to 
change  things  at  all.  A  certain  mill  for- 
merly had  the  reputation  of  paying  poor 
wages,  and,  of  course,  had  difficulty  in  get- 
ting good  help.  Now,  under  this  system,  it 
pays  the  best  wages  and  draws  the  cream  of 
the  help  from  all  around.  Every  man  in  that 
mill  knows  he  has  the  best  job  he  can  get, 
and  he  comes  every  day  to  take  care  of  it. 

If  the  men  know  that  the  employer  will 
stand  by  his  word,  and  not  change  the  time 
for  performing  a  task  when  it  has  been  once 


94  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

set,  tliey  soon  get  confidence  in  him,  and  the 
problem  of  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the 
plant  becomes  easy. 

In  attempting  to  increase  the  efficiency  of 
a  plant,  then,  the  first  j^roblem  is  to  convince 
the  workmen  of  our  good  faith  and  that  they 
will  be  treated  fairly.  When  this  has  been 
done,  we  always  have  their  co-operation  to  a 
degree  entirely  unsuspected  by  those  who 
have  never  tried  that  method. 

We  must  remember,  however,  that  proper 
piece  rates  and  loyal  workmen  are  only  ele- 
ments in  producing  efficiency.  They  have 
but  little  effect  unless  there  is  system  of 
management  that  tends  to  harmonize  all  the 
various  elements  upon  which  efficiency  de- 
pends. 

In  fact,  a  broad-minded  manager  who  un- 
derstands the  relative  importance  of  the  va- 
rious operations  carried  on  in  the  plant,  and 
who  adopts  a  policy  which  has  a  tendency  to 
harmonize  these  various  operations,  can  ac- 
complish more  with  individual  records  and 
day  work  than  can  be  accomplished  by  the 
best  possible  piece  rates  without  a  harmoniz- 
ing system  of  management. 

In  any  attempt  to  increase  efficiency,  there- 
fore, the  first  problem  is  to  harmonize  the 


PIECE   WORK  95 

various  operations.  In  most  plants,  espe- 
cially those  that  have  grown  gradually  from 
small  beginnings,  it  is  usually  possible  for  a 
capable  man  to  do  this  in  a  manner  that  will 
increase  efficiency,  diminish  the  amount  of 
supervision  needed,  and  secure  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  best  men,  if  he  makes  a  careful 
study  of  the  work  with  that  object  in  view. 

To  do  this  it  is  often  necessary  to  rear- 
range machinery  in  order  to  minimize  trans- 
portation and  bring  together  similar  and  al- 
lied operations.  This  should  be  done  before 
a  study  is  made  of  the  detail  operations, 
which,  if  possible,  should  be  studied  under 
the  conditions  that  are  to  be  permanent. 

In  other  words,  the  general  problem  of 
manufacture  must  first  be  divided  into  its 
grand  divisions ;  these  grand  divisions  must 
then  be  divided  and  subdivided  until  the  in- 
dividual operations  may  be  further  subdi- 
vided into  details  which  can  be  studied  sepa- 
rately. 

Analyzing  a  piece  of  work  into  its  proper 
elements  and  determining  the  minimum  time 
for  each  element  is  not  work  that  can  be  done 
by  an  inexperienced  clerk  with  a  stop  watch, 
but  requires  a  man  with  a  trained  analytical 
mind  who  can  concentrate  his  attention  on  a 


96  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

problem  and  learn  all  there  is  to  be  known 
about  it.  Having  determined  the  minimum 
time  in  which  the  work  can  be  done,  the 
problem  of  setting  a  reasonable  task  is  still 
to  be  solved.  If  the  work  is  simple  and  is  to 
be  repeated  many  times  per  day,  and  day 
after  day,  the  task  should  be  a  difficult  one 
for  even  the  good  workers  at  first,  for  with 
repetition  they  will  acquire  skill,  and  in  a 
short  time  it  will  become  easy.  In  such  work 
it  will  often  pay  to  spend  quite  a  long  time 
training  workers  to  do  it  efficiently. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  operation  is  but 
seldom  done,  it  may  not  pay  to  spend  much 
time  training  workmen  to  do  it  with  great 
efficiency.  In  this  case  we  should  not  make 
the  task  too  severe,  but  such  as  a  good  work- 
man can  do  without  the  preparation  of  spe- 
cial training. 

This  studying  of  the  elements  of  a  piece  of 
work  and  setting  proper  tasks  or  piece  rates, 
though  an  important  part  of  any  proper  sys- 
tem of  management,  is  only  a  part.  The 
broad  problem  which  includes  all  others  is 
to  develop  a  system  that  encourages  the  study 
of  all  operations  and  adequately  rewards  all 
who  co-operate  for  their  continued  efficient 
Derformance. 


PIECE    AVORK  97 

As  was  said  before,  it  is  not  tlie  workman 
to  whom  we  must  look  for  increase  in  effi- 
ciency, but  the  manager.  The  policy  of  com- 
pensating the  individual  for  efficiency  is 
bound  to  cause  increase  of  efficiency,  and  that 
of  fixing  compensation  regardless  of  effi- 
ciency is  just  as  sure  to  reduce  it.  The  man- 
ager, and  not  the  workman,  is  responsible 
for  the  policy. 

It  is  a  well-recognized  fact  that  the  efficient 
man  at  high  wages  is  much  more  profitable 
to  his  employer  than  the  inefficient  man  at 
low  wages,  yet  how  many  managers  give  any 
consideration  to  the  subject  of  increasing 
efficiency?  Under  the  system  of  management 
in  most  general  use  the  manager  puts  the 
solution  of  all  problems  concerning  work- 
men on  his  superintendents,  who  in  turn  pass 
them  on  to  their  foremen. 

Is  such  a  policy  a  system  of  management, 
or  is  it  a  system  of  shirking  the  responsibili- 
ties of  management?  Of  course  the  man- 
ager cannot  personally  study  all  the  opera- 
tions, and  solve  all  the  labor  problems  that 
may  come  up;  but  if  he  has  the  knowledge 
and  ability  he  can  gradually  build  up  an  or- 
ganization that  will  successfully  study  and 
solve  them. 


98  "WORK,    WAGES,    AXD   PROFITS 

The  demand  for  trained  workmen  is  very 
extensive,  but  it  too  often  spends  itself  in 
schemes  for  schools  to  carry  out  at  their  own 
expense,  and  the  question  immediately  arises 
as  to  whether  the  schools,  or,  in  other  words, 
the  State,  should  bear  the  expense  of  train- 
ing workmen.  Under  the  old  apprentice  sys- 
tem each  trade  trained  its  own  workmen. 
Under  our  factory  system  this  method  has 
been  largely  abandoned,  and  nothing  has 
been  developed  to  take  its  place.  Is  it  not 
the  duty  of  the  factory  to  develop  a  substi- 
tute for  a  system  its  m.ethods  have  made  ob- 
solete? Is  not  the  system  of  having  a  first- 
class  workman  study  mechanical  operations 
in  detail  and  teach  the  younger  man  to  per- 
form them  in  the  best  manner  he  can  devise, 
and  at  the  best  speed  he  can  show,  far  su- 
perior to  the  old  method  where  the  appren- 
tice might  have  an  efficient  teacher,  but  more 
often  did  not? 

Surely  nobody  will  deny  that  such  a  sys- 
te7n  is  to  be  preferred  to  the  old  apprentice 
system,  and,  if  so,  the  only  question  that 
arises  is,  will  it  pay  the  manufacturer? 

Inasmuch  as  the  efficient  workman  often 
does  two  or  three  times  as  much  as  the  poor 
workman,  and  always  does  it  better,  and  in- 


PIECE   WORK  99 

asmuch  as  the  workman  who  does  twice  as 
much  work  cuts  the  general  expenses  per 
unit  of  output  in  half,  there  would  seem  to 
be  no  question  that  such  a  system  of  training 
would  pay  handsomely.  This  will  be  dis> 
cussed  in  detail  in  the  subsequent  chapters. 


TASK  WORK  WITH  A  BONUS 


Chapter  VI 

TASK  WOEK  WITH  A  BONUS 

TN  the  preceding  chapters  an  attempt  has 
-''  been  made  to  show  that  present  labor 
conditions — that  is,  labor  unions  and  em- 
ployers' associations — are  a  natural  and  al- 
most a  necessary  result  of  the  present  meth- 
ods of  handling  workmen.  The  horizontal 
wage,  under  which  men  in  a  certain  class  get 
a  certain  wage  and  under  which  it  is  prac- 
tically impossible  for  any  individual  to  get 
much  more  than  the  average  day,  or  piece- 
work, wage  of  the  class,  has  its  effect  in 
causing  the  workmen  of  that  class  to  com- 
bine to  get  the  average  wage  of  the  class  in- 
creased. 

It  was  also  explained  that  as  long  as  we 
classified  workmen  and  paid  those  of  one 
class  substantially  one  wage,  without  greatly 
varying  that  wage  according  to  efficiency, 
the  efficient  men,  realizing  that  they  could 
not  get  any  more  money  than  was  paid  to  the 
average  of  their  class,  would  continue  to 
combine  with  the  others  in  that  class  to  have 
103 


104  WORK,    WAGES,   AND    PROFITS 

the  class  wage  raised.  This  is  what  they 
have  done  in  the  past;  and,  if  we  read  hu- 
man nature  aright,  this  is  what  they  will  do 
in  the  future,  until  some  means  has  been  de- 
vised by  which  the  efficient  man  can  get 
proper  compensation  for  his  work.  When 
his  compensation  is  independent  of  what  the 
inefficient  man  gets,  he  will  not  worry  him- 
self greatly  about  combining  with  the  ineffi- 
cient man.  The  employer  recognizes  that  the 
efficient  man  is  worth  more  to  him  than  the 
inefficient  man,  but  most  employers  do  not 
know  any  scheme  by  which  they  can  com- 
pensate the  efficient  man  according  to  his 
deserts,  and  avoid  trouble  with  the  ineffi- 
cient man. 

The  object  of  this  chapter  is  to  show  what 
we  have  accomplished  both  in  the  way  of 
rewarding  the  efficient  man,  and  of  making 
the  inefficient  man  efficient. 

In  March,  1899,  I  became  associated  with 
the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company  to  assist  in 
putting  into  operation  methods  for  increas- 
ing the  efficiency  of  their  labor.  This  work 
was  being  done  by  Mr,  F.  W.  Taylor,  with 
whom  I  had  been  associated  twelve  years 
previously  in  the  Midvale  Steel  Company, 
where  the  methods  underlying  Mr.  Taylor's 


TASK    WORK   WITH   A   BONUS  105 

work  originated,  and  where  they  are  still  in 
operation. 

One  object  that  Mr.  Taylor  had  in  mind 
was  to  establish  throughout  the  plant  a  sys- 
tem of  i3iece  work  based  on  a  scientific  study 
of  what  could  be  done,  and  to  make  piece 
rates  that  should  be  permanent.  The  por- 
tion of  the  works  that  seemed  to  offer  the 
greatest  field  was  the  main  machine  shop ; 
but  before  setting  these  piece  rates  it  was 
necessary  to  make  a  great  many  changes. 
Machines  in  this  shop  had  been  located,  not 
with  reference  to  any  particular  system  of 
management  (because  nobody  had  given  the 
system  of  management  any  particular 
thought)  but  promiscuously,  throughout  the 
shop. 

In  order  to  do  work  economically  it  was 
desirable  to  rearrange  the  machine  tools  in 
such  a  manner  that  a  foreman,  expert  on  one 
class  of  work,  should  be  able  to  supervise 
that  work.  Accordingly  the  location  of  the 
machines  was  so  changed  as  to  place  the 
large  lathes  in  one  group,  the  small  lathes 
in  another,  the  planers  in  another,  etc.  "While 
the  machines  were  being  moved  they  were 
respeeded  to  enable  them  to  utilize  to  ad- 
vantage the  improvements    that    had    been 


106  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

made  in  tool  steel,  Mr.  Taylor  at  the  same 
time  making  a  large  number  of  experiments* 
to  determine  the  best  shapes  of  tools  and  the 
best  tool  steel  with  which  to  do  the  work, 
which  in  this  shop  was  very  miscellaneous  in 
character.  Even  when  we  got  the  shop  re- 
arranged, much  study  still  had  to  be  done 
before  we  could  know  enough  about  the  con- 
ditions to  make  permanent  piece  rates. 

The  high  degree  of  perfection  demanded 
by  Mr.  Taylor  took  much  time ;  and  the  con- 
sequence was,  that  although  slide  rules  for 
determining  how  to  do  m.achine  work  and  in- 
struction cards  for  directing  the  workmen 
had  been  in  use  since  1899,  the  monthly  out- 
put of  the  shop  during  the  year  from  March 
1,  1900,  to  March  1,  1901,  had  been  but  little 
more  than  the  monthly  average  for  the  five 
years  preceding. 

Up  to  this  time  we  had  devoted  ourselves 
to  the  study  of  what  could  be  done,  and  had 
done  but  little  to  cause  the  workmen  to  co- 
operate with  us.  This  record  shows  that  we 
had  not  in  any  measurable  degree  secured 
their  co-operation.  In  other  words,  we  had 
much  knowledge,  but  were  unable  to  get  any 
substantial  benefit  from  it  because  the  men 

*The  result  of  these  experiments  was  the  development 
of  the  Taylor-White  method  of  treating  tool  steel. 


TASK   WORK   WITH   A   BONUS  107 

would  not  help.  Not  being  ready  to  intro- 
duce the  differential  piece-rate  system,  which 
was  regarded  as  the  ideal  one  for  obtaining 
a  maximum  output,  I  felt  that  we  should  not 
wait  for  perfection,  but  should  offer  the 
workmen  additional  pay  in  some  manner 
that  would  not  interfere  with  the  ultimate 
adoption  of  the  differential*  piece-rate  sys- 
tem. Accordingly  on  March  11,  1901,  I  sug- 
gested that  we  pay  a  bonus  of  50  cents  to 
each  workman  who  did  in  any  day  all  the 
work  called  for  on  his  instruction  card. 
This  was  adopted  at  once,  and  Mr.  E.  P. 
Earle,  the  superintendent  of  the  machine 
shop,  suggested  that  we  should  also  pay  the 
gang  boss  (the  man  who  supplied  the  work) 
or  speed  boss  (foreman)  a  bonus  each  day 
for  each  of  his  men  that  earned  his  bonus. 
This  was  also  approved,  and  both  plans 
were  ordered  to  be  put  into  execution  as 
promptly  as  possible. 

This  bonus  payment  was  begun  at  once, 
and  on  May  13  the  assistant  superintendent 

*The  differential  piece  rate  was  devised  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Taylor  while  withi  the  Midvale  Steel  Co.,  to  stimulate 
maximum  production.  It  consisted  of  a  high  rate  per 
piece  if  a  definite  large  product  per  day  was  attained, 
and  a  lower  piece  price  if  the  output  was  less  than  the 
amount  set.  The  effect  of  the  system  was  to  cause  a 
big  increase  in  wages  for  attaining  a  definite  degree  of 
efficiency. 


108  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

of  the  machine  shop,  Mr.  E.  J.  Snyder,  made 
the  following  report: 

Mr.  E.  P.  Eakle. 

Supt.  of  Machine  Shop  No.  2. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  hand  you  herewith  some  notes  on  the  results 
obtained  by  the  introduction  of  the  "bonus"  plan  for 
remunerating'  labor  in  Xo.  2  machine  shop.  (Here 
follow  machine  numbers  and  dates  when  they  were 
started  on  this  plan.) 

One  of  the  best  results  after  a  short  trial  has  been 
the  moral  effect  upon  the  men.  They  have  had  it 
placed  in  their  power  to  earn  a  very  substantial  in- 
crease in  wages  by  a  corresponding  increase  in  their 
productive  capacity,  and  this  has  given  them  the  feel- 
ing that  the  company  is  quite  willing  to  reward  the 
increased  effort.  They  display  a  willingness  to  work 
right  up  to  their  capacity,  with  the  knowledge  that 
they  are  not  given  impossibilities  to  perform.  This 
effect  has  been  brougbt  about  by  the  good  use  of  our 
excellent  slide  rules  in  the  hands  of  a  number  of  the 
most  thoroughly  practical  men,  who,  when  the  results 
which  they  demand  have  been  declared  impossible  to 
obtain,  have  repeatedly  gone  out  into  the  shop  and 
themselves  demonstrated  that  the  time  was  ample,  by 
doing  the  work  well  within  the  limits  set.  All  this 
has  inspired  the  confidence  of  the  shop .  hands,  and 
the  excellent  instruction  cards  sent  out  are  gradually 
evolving  from  laborers  a  most  efficient  lot  of  machine 
hands.  .  .  .  The  percentage  of  errors  in  machin- 
ing has  been  very  materially  reduced,  which  is  un- 
questionably due  to  the  fact  that  in  order  to  earn  his 
bonus  a  man  must  utilize  his  brains  and  faculties  to 
the  fullest  extent,  and  so  has  his  attention  closely 
fixed  on  the  work  before  him,  as  every  move  must  be 


TASK   WORK   WITH    A   BONUS  109 

made  to  count.  He  thus  has  no  time  for  dreaming, 
which  was,  no  doubt,  the  cause  of  many  errors. 

The  condition  of  the  machines  is  vastly  improved. 
Most  care  has  been  taken  to  point  out  to  the  men 
that  the  best  results  can  be  obtained  only  by  keeping 
their  machines  in  good  running  condition,  well-lubri- 
cated and  cleaned.  They  have  not  been  slow  to 
realize  this,  and  cases  of  journals  cutting  fast  are 
very  rare,  while  before  the  introduction  of  the 
"bonus"  plan  this  was  a  very  common  occurrence. 
Breakdowns  are  also  of  a  less  frequent  occurrence. 

The  crane  service  lately  has  given  us  little  trouble, 
and  lack  of  crane  service  was  formerly  a  constant 
excuse  of  the  bosses  and  m6n  for  not  being  able  to 
keep  machines  filled  with  work.  The  improvement 
in  this  case  arose  from  the  rule  laid  down  that  no 
exceptions  or  allowances  would  be  made  for  delays 
due  to  this  cause. 

It  is  only  by  the  introduction  of  this  "bonus"  plan 
that  we  have  had  furnished  the  automatic  incentive 
for  men  to  work  up  to  their  capacity  and  to  obtain 
from  the  machines  the  product  which  they  are  cap- 
able of  turning  out.  It  has  lifted  the  hands  of  the 
speed  bosses  (foremen)  and  enabled  them  to  act 
in  the  capacity  for  which  those  positions  were  created 
— that  of  instructors. 


These  are  some  of  the  direct  results  obtained.  In- 
directly it  has  eliminated  the  constant  necessity  for 
driving  the  men,  and  has  enabled  the  shop  manage- 
ment to  divert  some  of  its  energy  into  perfecting  the 
organization,  which  only  will  enable  us  to  give  a 
good  account  of  the  shop  equipment.  Much  good  has 
also  resulted  from  putting  the  work  through  in  lots, 
and  keeping  each  machine  as  nearly  as  possible  on  the 
same  kind  of  work. 


110  WORK,    "WAGES,    AXD   PROFITS 

It  is  also  a  pleasure  to  note  in  this  connection  the 
deep  interest  taken  in  the  work  b}^  the  men  connected 
with  it,  and  the  fine  co-operative  spirit  which  pre- 
vails among  all  hands. 

This  report  was  made  only  two  months 
after  the  bonus  system  was  started,  now 
nearly  nine  years  ago,  and  is  particularly 
valuable  as  it  emphasizes  some  of  the  fun- 
damental jDrinciples  on  which  successful  work 
of  this  character  must  be  founded.  We  must 
secure  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  the 
workman  by  assuring  him  equitable  compen- 
sation. If  we  fail  to  do  this,  any  results  we 
may  get  will  be  of  short  duration  and  our 
work  will  finally  come  to  naught.  Many  of 
the  failures  to  get  continuously  the  high  efifi- 
ciency  which  seemed  easily  possible,  have 
been  due  to  a  disregard  of  the  fact  that  the 
workman  is  entitled  to  a  share  in  the  bene- 
fits of  increased  efficiency,  and  in  the  long 
run  will  not  co-operate  unless  he  gets  it. 

The  attempt  to  drive  the  workman  to  in- 
creased efforts  which  benefit  the  employer 
alone,  necessarily  creates  a  force  of  opposi- 
tion which  grows  greater  as  it  is  carried  far- 
ther. Finally,  the  force  of  opposition  be- 
comes so  great  that  further  progress  is  im- 
possible   and    the    system   of  management 


TASK   WORK   WITH   A   BONUS  111 

based  on  force  breaks  down.  This  is  as  it 
should  be,  if  we  are  to  progress  from  an  era 
of  force  to  one  of  equity,  and  to  make  ob- 
solete the  doctrine  that  "they  should  take 
who  have  the  power  and  they  should  keep 
who  can." 

Continual  failure  to  obtain  our  ends  per- 
manently by  the  use  of  force,  and  success 
in  obtaining  them  by  co-operation,  will  ulti- 
mately show  that  the  selfishness  that  prompts 
the  use  of  force  is  unintelligent,  and  that  the 
most  intelligent  selfishness  is  that  which 
shares  the  benefits  equitably  among  those 
helping  to  obtain  them. 

In  closing  the  discussion  on  a  paper  on 
training  workmen,  read  before  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  De- 
cember, 1908,  I  made  the  following  state- 
ment: 


A  system  of  management  may  be  defined  as  a 
means  of  causing  men  to  co-operate  with  each  other 
for  a  common  end.  If  this  co-operation  is  main- 
tained by  force,  the  system  is  in  a  state  of  unstable 
equilibrium,  and  will  go  to  pieces  if  the  strong 
hand  is  removed.  Co-operation  in  which  the  bond 
is  mutual  interest  in  the  success  of  work  done  by 
intelligent  and  honest  methods  produces  a  state  of 
equilibrium  which  is  stable  and  needs  no  outside 
support. 


113  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

In  the  paper  itself  the  following  statements 
are  found: 

The  general  policy  of  the  past  has  been  to  drive, 
but  the  era  of  force  must  give  way  to  that  of  knowl- 
edge, and  the  policy  of  the  future  will  be  to  teach 
and  to  lead,  to  the  advantage  of  all  concerned. 

It  is  too  much  to  hope,  however,  that  the  methods 
about  to  be  described  will  be  adopted  extensively  in 
the  near  future;  for  the  great  majority  of  managers, 
whose  success  is  based  mainly  on  their  personal  abil- 
ity, will  hesitate  before  adopting  what  seems  to 
them  the  slower  and  less  forceful  policy  of  studying 
problems  and  training  workmen;  but  should  they 
do  so,  they  will  have  absolutely  no  desire  to  return 
to  their  former  methods. 

In  some  quarters  I  have  been  regarded  as 
not  making  the  most  of  opportunities  because 
of  adherence  to  this  policy,  but  results  in 
the  long  run  have  been  so  much  greater  and 
more  stable  than  those  obtained  by  the  driv- 
ing method,  that  even  the  strongest  advo- 
cates of  force  are  beginning  to  recognize  that 
in  their  desire  to  get  great  results  quickly 
they  may  fail  to  get  them  permanently. 

To  go  back,  however,  to  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works,  we  note  that  the  average 
monthly  output  of  the  shop  from  March  1, 
1900,  to  March  1,  1901,  was  1,173,000  pounds ; 
and  from  March  1,  1901,  to  August  1,  1901,  it 
was   2,069,000  pounds.     The  shop   had  700 


TASK   WORK   WITH   A   BONUS  113 

men  in  it  and  we  were  paying  on  tlie  bonus 
plan  only  about  80  workmen  out  of  that  en- 
tire 700. 

In  September,  1901,  the  ownership  of  the 
works  passed  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Charles 
M.  Schwab,  and  with  this  change  came  a 
change  in  management.  Mr.  Schwab  had 
been  brought  up  in  a  school  where  the  drive 
method  only  was  used,  and  he  did  not  believe 
in  any  other.  Mr.  Taylor  had  already  left 
the  works,  and  the  services  of  the  writer 
and  all  others  that  had  been  prominent  in 
installing  the  new  methods  were  shortly  dis- 
pensed with. 

An  unintelligent  selfishness  on  the  part  of 
the  management  soon  caused  them  to  cease 
paying  any  bonus  to  the  foreman.  Other 
changes  gradually  followed,  and,  although  at- 
tempts were  made  to  retain  some  of  the  me- 
chanical features  of  our  methods,  in  a  few 
years  the  essential  principles  of  this  work 
were  practically  eliminated  and  the  eflficieDcy 
of  the  shop  ran  down  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  become  notorious.  A  complete  return  to 
the  drive  method  after  repudiating  these 
principles,  has  produced  a  series  of  labor 
troubles,  which,  at  this  writing,  have  culmi- 
nated in  closing  down  the  whole  plant. 


114  WORK,    WAGES,    AND    PROFITS 

Contrast  this  ivith  over  thirty  years'  free- 
dom from  labor  troubles  enjoyed  by  the  Mid- 
vale  Steel  Company,  where  long  ago  these 
methods  had  their  beginning. 

The  plan  as  started  at  Bethlehem  of  pay- 
ing a  fixed  bonus  for  performing  the  task 
had  one  element  of  weakness,  namely,  that 
after  the  men  had  earned  their  bonus  there 
was  no  further  incentive  to  them.  It  was 
some  time  before  I  devised  a  satisfactory 
method  for  adding  such  an  incentive,  which 
was  finally  accomplished  by  paying  the  work- 
man for  the  time  allowed  plus  a  percentage 
of  that  time. 

For  instance,  if  the  time  allowed  for  a  task 
is  three  hours,  the  workman  who  performs 
it  in  three  hours  or  less  is  given  four  hours* 
pay.  He  thus  has  an  incentive  to  do  as  much 
work  as  possible.  If  the  workman  fails  to 
perform  the  task  within  the  time  limit  he  gets 
his  day  rate.  The  time  allowed  plus  the 
bonus  is  the  equivalent  of  a  piece-rate ;  hence 
we  have  piece  work  for  the  skilled  and  day 
work  for  the  unskilled. 

One  other  feature  of  this  work  at  Bethle- 
hem had  a  most  important  effect  on  the  re- 
sult— namely,  that  in  addition  to  the  bonus 
paid  the  foreman  for  each  man  under  him 


TASK   WORK   WITH   A   BONUS  115 

who  made  bonus,  a  further  bonus  was  paid 
if  all  made  bonus.  For  instance,  a  foreman 
having  ten  men  under  him  would  get  10  cents 
each,  or  90  cents  total,  if  nine  of  his  men 
made  bonus ;  but  15  cents  each,  or  $1.50  total, 
if  all  ten  made  bonus.  The  additional  60 
cents  for  bringing  the  inferior  workmen  up 
to  the  standard  made  him  devote  his  ener- 
gies to  those  men  who  most  needed  them. 

This  is  the  first  recorded  attempt  to  make 
it  to  the  financial  interest  of  the  foreman  to 
teach  the  individual  tvorker,  and  the  import- 
ance of  it  cannot  he  over-estimated,  for  it 
changes  the  foreman  from  a  driver  of  his 
m,en  to  their  friend  and  helper. 

Under  former  conditions,  the  foreman  hes- 
itated to  teach  the  workman  for  fear  the  lat- 
ter might  learn  as  much  as  he  knew  and  pos- 
sibly get  his  job.  Under  the  new  conditions, 
the  man  who  knows  is  paid  for  teaching 
others  as  much  as  he  knows,  and  the  others 
are  paid  a  bonus  for  learning  and  doing  what 
they  are  taught.  It  is  this  feature  of  the  task 
and  bonus  system  that  has  enabled  us  not 
only  to  obtain,  but  to  maintain  permanently, 
such  satisfactory  results.  The  expert  work- 
man who  becomes  a  good  teacher  soon  makes 
his  services  valuable,  for,  by  his  assistance, 


116  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

tve  can  often  make  the  average  efficiency  of 
the  shop  even  greater  than  his  best  efficiency 
was  before  we  began  to  study  the  question  of 
efficiency.  He  learns  to  remove  obstacles 
which  stood  in  his  ivay  when  he  was  a  simple 
workman,  and  often  becomes  an  expert  also 
not  only  at  removing  these  obstacles,  but  at 
developing  better  methods  to  avoid  them. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  devel- 
opment of  the  task  and  bonus  system,  which, 
starting  as  a  substitute  for  differential  piece 
work,  gradually  supplanted  it,  differing  only 
by  the  fact  that  the  worker  who  failed  to 
earn  the  high  rate  got  his  day's  pay  instead 
of  a  lower  piece  rate,  thus  allowing  the  in- 
efficient workman  a  chance  to  earn  a  living 
while  learning  to  become  efficient.  This  ef- 
fort to  help  the  poor  workman  by  giving  him 
a  living  wage  and  an  instructor,  enables  us 
to  utilize  many  bright  young  men  who  either 
did  not  have  a  chance  to  learn  a  trade,  or  did 
not  appreciate  it  when  they  had  it.  This  is 
an  exceedingly  large  class,  and  one  that  we 
find  everywhere. 

To  review  again  the  elements  on  which  this 
system  is  founded,  we  note : 

1. — A  scientific  investigation  in  detail  of 
each  piece  of  work,  and  the  determination  of 


TASK   ^YORK    WITH    A   BONUS  117 

the  best  method  and  the  shortest  time  in 
which  the  work  can  be  done. 

2. — A  teacher  capable  of  teaching  the  best 
method  and  shortest  time. 

3. — Reward  for  both  teacher  and  pnpil 
when  the  latter  is  successful. 

Are  not  these  elements  sure  to  make  for 
success?  The  fact  that  we  have  been  able  to 
develop  promptly  workmen  who  could  satis- 
factorily perform  any  ordinary  task  is  the 
best  answer.  This  method  of  providing 
workers  for  the  semi-skilled  jobs  of  a  factory 
has  been  so  successful  that  we  are  led  to  ask 
whether  our  method  is  not  the  basis  on  which 
to  found  a  system  of  instruction  and  training 
for  apprentices  and  workmen  in  general. 

In  a  following  chapter  we  shall  show  in  de- 
tail what  has  been  accomplished,  and  give 
data  which  prove  that  money  invested  in  es- 
tablishing a  scheme  of  management  and 
training  on  these  lines  yields  a  very  large  re- 
turn. One  of  the  best  results  of  this  work  is 
that  the  trained  workmen  almost  always  hold 
on  to  their  jobs,  and  the  few  that  leave  soon 
come  back.  Under  our  methods  workmen 
take  pride  in  being  efficient. 


THE   TASK   IDEA 


Chapter  VII 
THE    TASK    IDEA 

T  TNDERLYING  the  theory  and  practice  of 
^  "Task  Work  with  a  Bonus"  is  an  im- 
portant principle — a  concept  altogether  dif- 
ferent in  kind  from  that  which  actuates  the 
''drive"  method,  or  the  policy  of  urging  men 
to  mere  strenuous  toil,  without  any  well- 
measured  standard  of  how  much  work  a  man 
should  reasonably  do  under  the  conditions  of 
the  case.  This  principle  is  the  Task  Idea. 
What  are  its  elements  and  influences  ? 

In  studying  a  problem  it  is  best  to  consider 
first  the  simplest  form  in  which  that  problem 
presents  itself,  and  one  if  possible  in  which 
the  issues  are  perfectly  clear  to  all.  A 
good  example  for  our  purpose  is  to  study 
the  methods  by  which  a  child  is  taught 
to  perform  a  simple  operation.  The  in- 
variable method  is  to  explain  to  the  child 
as  clearly  as  possible  what  is  wanted,  and 
then  to  set  a  task  for  it  to  accomplish.  It 
may  be  noted  that  the  accomplishment  of  the 
task  is  rendered  much  easier  for  both  the 
121 


122  WORK^   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

child  and  the  parent,  if  a  suitable  reward  is 
offered  for  the  proper  performance.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  setting  tasks  and  rewarding 
performance  is  the  standard  method  of 
teaching  and  training  children.  The  school- 
master invariably  sets  tasks,  and,  while  they 
are  not  always  performed  as  well  as  he 
wishes,  he  gets  far  more  done  than  if  he  had 
not  set  them.  The  college  professor  finds 
the  task  his  most  effective  instrument  in  get- 
ting work  out  of  his  students,  and  when  we 
in  our  personal  work  have  something  strenu- 
ous or  disagreeable  to  accomplish,  it  is  not 
infrequently  that  we  utilize  the  same  idea  to 
help  ourselves,  and  it  does  help  us. 

The  inducement  to  perform  the  task  is  al- 
ways some  benefit  or  reward.  It  may  not  al- 
ways be  so  immediate  as  the  lump  of  sugar 
the  child  gets,  but  the  work  is  still  done  for 
some  reward,  immediate  or  prospective. 
Further,  it  is  a  well-acknowledged  fact  that 
to  work  at  a  task  which  we  recognize  as 
being  within  our  power  to  accomplish  with- 
out overexerting  ourselves,  is  less  tiring  and 
far  more  pleasant  than  to  work  along  at  the 
same  rate  with  no  special  goal  ahead. 

It  is  simply  the  difference  between  work- 
ing with  an  object,  and  without  one.     The 


THE   TASK    IDEA  123 

hunter  who  enjoys  following  the  trail  of  the 
moose,  day  after  day,  through  snow  and  bit- 
ter cold  weather,  would  find  the  same  travel- 
ing very  disagreeable  except  for  the  task  he 
has  set  himself.  To  the  uninitiated,  golf 
seems  a  very  inane  sort  of  game,  but  its  de- 
votees work  at  it  with  tremendous  energy 
just  for  the  satisfaction  of  reducing  their 
score  a  few  strokes.  As  they  become  more 
proficient,  they  become  more  enthusiastic ; 
for,  having  performed  one  task,  there  is  al- 
ways one  just  a  little  harder  to  work  at.  A 
consideration  of  this  subject  will  convince  us 
that  in  the  vast  majority  of  people  there 
readily  springs  up  the  desire  to  do  some- 
thing specific  if  the  opportunity  offers,  and 
if  an  adequate  reward  can  be  obtained  for 
doing  it. 

A  NATUKAL   METHOD 

The  idea  of  setting  for  each  worker  a  task 
with  a  bonus  for  its  accomplishment  seems 
thus  to  be  in  accord  with  human  nature,  and 
hence  the  proper  foundation  of  a  system  of 
management.  Our  problem,  then,  is  to  find 
out  how  to  set  a  proper  task  and  what  the 
reward  should  be  for  its  accomplishment. 

The  ideal  industrial  community  would  be 


124  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

one  in  which  every  member  has  his  proper 
daily  task  and  receives  a  corresponding  re- 
ward. Such  a  community  would  represent 
the  condition  of  which  Kipling  says: 

"They  shall  work  for  an  age  at  a  sitting  and  never 
be  tired  at  all." 

This  is  what  Scientific  Management  in  its 
best  development  aims  to  accomplish,  for  it 
aims  to  assign  to  each,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  a  definite  task  each  day,  and  to 
secure  to  every  individual  such  a  reward  as 
will  make  his  task  not  only  acceptable,  but 
agreeable  and  pleasant.  Whatever  we  do 
must  be  in  accord  with  human  nature.  We 
cannot  drive  people;  we  must  direct  their 
development. 

The  greatest  obstacles  to  the  introduction 
of  this  method  in  the  past  have  not  been  the 
workmen,  but  the  foremen  and  others  in  au- 
thority. Those  offering  most  objection  have, 
as  a  rule,  either  not  understood  what  was 
being  done,  or  have  felt  their  inability  to 
hold  their  jobs  if  they  were  asked  to  perform 
them  in  accordance  with  the  high  standards 
set.  Frequently,  the  higher  they  are  in  au- 
thority the  less  they  can  see  that  they  should 
have  a  task  set  for  them.     Such  a  system 


THE   TASK   IDEA  125 

bears  hardest  on  those  who  hold  their  jobs 
by  pull  or  bluff,  and  it  is  from  them  that  we 
should  expect  the  greatest  oj^position.  In 
this  we  are  not  disappointed.  In  fact,  there 
is  only  one  class  that  opposes  ns  more 
strongly,  and  that  is  the  class  which  is  using 
official  position  for  private  gain.  Such  peo- 
ple will  often  commit  serious  crimes  in  an 
attempt  to  prevent  the  exposure  of  their  ir- 
regularities, and  no  concern,  therefore, 
should  undertake  the  installation  of  these 
methods,  unless  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
eliminating  all  kinds  of  graft  and  special 
privileges. 

SCHEDULES  AS  TASKS 

The  task  idea  is  really  so  common  that  we 
do  not  recognize  it.  Every  railroad  schedule 
consists  of  a  series  of  tasks,  and  in  the  manu- 
facture of  such  articles  as  sewing  machines, 
tjrpewriters,  and  locomotives,  the  task  idea 
is  illustrated  by  the  schedules  according  to 
which  the  various  parts  are  started  on  their 
way  through  the  different  departments,  and 
day  by  day  make  such  progress  as  will  bring 
them  to  the  erecting  shop  at  the  proper  time 
to  be  incorporated  into  the  finished  machine 
without  delay. 


126  WORK^   WxlGES,   AND   PROFITS 

In  the  case  of  locomotives,  in  particular, 
tlie  task  idea  is  specifically  illustrated  by  the 
dates  of  shipment  set,  often  months  ahead, 
which  are  lived  up  to  in  a  very  remarkable 
manner.  When  the  shipping  date  of  a  loco- 
motive has  been  set,  there  has  also  been  set 
the  time  when  every  piece  must  start  on  its 
course  through  the  shops  to  arrive  at  the 
appointed  time  in  the  erecting  shop.  Inas- 
much as  this  work  has  been  done  over  and 
over  again,  all  the  principal  men  in  the 
works  know  by  heart  the  schedules  of  all  the 
parts  they  are  concerned  with,  and  what 
their  tasks  are. 

Wherever  the  work  is  of  one  general  char- 
acter, this  condition  exists,  for  each  foreman, 
and  in  many  cases  the  various  workmen,  soon 
learn  the  proper  routes  and  time-schedules  of 
the  parts  they  are  concerned  with. 

The  grand  task  of  shipping  at  a  predeter- 
mined date,  then,  consists  of  the  sum  of  those 
detail  tasks,  each  of  which  must  be  per- 
formed properly  and  in  the  proper  sequence 
if  the  shipping  date  is  to  be  lived  up  to. 

SCHEDULING   MISCELLANEOUS    WOEK 

Where  the  work  is  miscellaneous  in  char- 
acter, however,  the  task  of  having  each  part 


THE   TASK   IDEA  137 

go  through  the  proper  sequence  of  operations 
and  arrive  at  the  erecting  shop  in  the  order 
wanted  is  not  so  easy.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
it  is  my  feeling  that  the  inability  to  get  mis- 
cellaneous work  through  a  shop  on  time  be- 
cause of  lack  of  proper  schedules,  and  the 
delays  caused  thereby,  are  often  the  source 
of  as  much  expense  as  inefficient  work  on  the 
part  of  the  operative. 

In  a  small  shop  one  capable  man  can  often 
so  plan  miscellaneous  work,  and  keep  account 
of  it  in  his  head,  that  but  little  expense  is 
incurred  from  delays  or  interferences;  but 
in  the  large  shops  of  today,  and  especially 
in  plants  consisting  of  several  shops,  such  a 
thing  is  quite  impossible ;  and  the  larger  the 
shop  or  plant  the  greater  the  expense  that 
arises  from  this  source.  This,  then,  is  the 
greatest  and  most  important  task  to  be  per- 
formed in  any  works,  and  it  is  one  for  which 
the  management  is  solely  responsible.  To  go 
into  details  of  how  such  a  task  is  performed 
would  be  impossible  in  the  short  time  at  my 
disposal.  Suffice  it  to  say,  however,  that, 
when  a  start  has  been  made  and  each  fore- 
man receives  each  day  a  list  of  jobs  to  be 
done  that  day,  the  general  efficiency  of  the 
works   is   much   increased,    though   nothing 


128  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

whatever  has  been  done  to  increase  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  individual  workman.  Although 
such  an  order  of  work  is  of  great  assistance 
to  the  foreman,  its  usefulness  increases  rap- 
idly as  the  work  is  so  planned  as  to  avoid  in- 
terferences and  to  have  all  materials  and 
appliances  ready  for  the  workman  in  ad- 
vance. With  this  result  the  efficiency  of  the 
individual  increases,  and,  unless  his  ineffi- 
ciency is  very  flagrant,  it  is  far  better  to 
solve  this  general  problem  first  and  to  take 
up  the  efficiency  of  the  workman  later,  except 
to  the  extent  of  keeping  a  daily  record  of 
his  work;  for  when  the  large  problem  is 
solved,  every  advance  made  by  the  individ- 
ual counts  for  all  it  is  worth,  w^hich  is  not 
always  the  case  when  w^ork  is  done  in  the 
wrong  sequence  or  by  an  inferior  method. 

What  I  have  said  has  often  proved  itself 
of  value.  Anybody  who  gives  the  subject 
thought  will  readily  recognize  the  importance 
of  it.  I  had  a  case  a  few  years  ago  w^here 
there  was  a  very  good  foreman  of  a  certain 
shop — I  say  he  was  good  because  he  intended 
to  do  the  right  thing  and  he  was  bright  and 
he  knew  how  to  do  the  work — who  neverthe- 
less had  one  failing,  a  very  bad  memory.  He 
would  promise  anything  and  never  perform 


THE   TASK   IDEA  129 

it.  It  was  not  because  he  did  not  want  to  do 
it ;  he  would  always  forget.  He  honestly  for- 
got. And  when  we  gave  him  a  list  of  the 
work  in  the  order  in  which  it  was  wanted, 
and  presented  him  each  day  a  list  of  the 
work  he  was  to  do  next,  he  was  perfectly 
delighted. 

I  have  had  many  similar  cases  and  have 
always  been  able  in  this  way  to  increase  the 
efficiency  of  the  foreman  and  of  the  work- 
men. In  one  case  I  was  told  that  certain 
foremen  in  a  large  shop  were  useless;  there 
was  one  in  particular  whom  they  Avould  have 
to  get  rid  of.  Well,  we  did  not  discuss  that 
question.  We  found  that  he  was  always  be- 
hind in  his  work  because  he  was  always  doing 
the  wrong  thing  first.  We  went  to  work  to 
straighten  out  what  he  should  do  and  gave 
him  each  day  a  list  of  the  work  he  w^as  to  do 
that  day.  In  a  short  time  he  caught  up  with 
his  work,  and  some  months  later  he  came  to 
the  superintendent  of  the  shop  and  said, 
''There  is  something  wrong  in  this  shop." 
The  superintendent  asked,  "What  is  the 
matter?"  "I  don't  know,"  said  the  fore- 
man; "but  there  is  something  wrong  in  this 
shop."  "Well,  what  is  it,  if  it  is  wrong?" 
"Well,"  the  foreman  replied,  "nobody  has 


130  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PKOFITS 

been  chasing  me  about  my  work  for  three 
days."  That  happened  several  years  ago, 
and  the  man  is  still  there  as  foreman. 

Having  solved  our  large  problem  of  sched- 
uling each  part  through  the  w^orks,  and  hav- 
ing devised  means  for  knowing  each  day 
whether  our  schedules  are  lived  up  to  or  not, 
w^e  come  to  what  most  people  consider  the 
real  problem,  that  of  setting  a  task  for  the 
workman. 

Many  shops  have  a  very  nice  schedule  sys- 
tem; they  plan  their  Avork  beautifully — at 
least,  it  looks  very  pretty  on  paper ;  but  they 
have  no  means  of  finding  out  whether  those 
schedules  are  lived  up  to  or  not.  Usually 
they  are  not.  I  have  been  through  shops 
where  the  superintendent  or  manager  told 
me  he  had  a  fine  system  of  management,  and, 
having  described  his  whole  system  to  me, 
turned  me  over  to  a  subordinate  to  take  me 
around  and  see  how  it  was  working.  It  has 
been  very  seldom  that  I  have  found  the  sys- 
tem working  the  way  the  superintendent  said 
it  was.  He  had  planned  it  and  had  given  his 
orders,  but  when  I  got  out  into  the  shop  and 
asked  questions,  I  found  that  the  foreman 
and  the  people  charged  with  carrying  out 
this  system  said,  "We  found  we  couldn't  do 


THE   TASK   IDEA 


131 


it  just  that  way  and  we  have  done  it  this 
way."  One  dear  old  man  whom  I  knew  very 
well  w^as  very  proud  of  his  shop  system.  He 
spent  quite  a  time  one  day  showing  it  to  me, 
and  then  turned  me  over  to  one  of  his  sub- 
ordinates to  be  shown  the  details  of  any- 
thing I  Wanted  to  see.  There  w^as  absolutely 
nothing  going  as  he  said  it  was  going.  The 
force  had  not  argued  with  him ;  they  had  just 
gone  on  and  done  things  in  their  own  way. 
He  had  this  beautiful  system  all  on  paper. 
It  looked  to  me  pretty  complicated,  but  he 
thought  it  was  fine.  Everybody  was  going 
on  just  the  same  as  before,  and  he  was  ig- 
norant of  the  fact.  They  never  brought  it 
up  to  him;  they  got  things  out  the  best  way 
they  could,  made  whatever  excuses  were 
necessary,  and  got  through. 

With  regard  to  the  subject  of  tasks  it  may 
be  said  that  it  is  only  in  those  cases  where 
the  number  of  routes  is  small  and  the  se- 
quence of  operations  fixed,  that  proper  tasks 
can  be  set  for  the  workman  before  the  solu- 
tion of  the  general  problem.  I  have  been 
working  at  one  plant  for  a  year  and  a  half 
where  they  had  a  pretty  good  system  of  man- 
agement, and  we  have  not  set  a  task  yet.  We 
have   been   straightening   out   their   routes. 


132  WORK^   WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

We  have  been  fixing  it  so  that  the  work 
should  go  through  the  shop  in  the  order 
wanted  and  not  by  the  snap  judgment  of 
some  individual.  As  soon  as  we  have  got 
into  the  various  rooms — in  many  cases  rooms 
which  were  crowded  and  where  work  was 
stacked  all  round  the  room — and  begun  to 
plan  the  work  so  as  to  have  it  done  in  proper 
sequence  and  without  delay,  congestion  has 
disappeared.  That  has  happened  in  so  many 
cases  that  it  cannot  be  attributed  to  acci- 
dent. In  one  case  the  shop  was  filled  with 
small  boxes  of  little  pieces  that  were  in  pro- 
cess. There  were  a  great  many  of  those 
boxes.  I  said,  "The  first  thing,  gentlemen, 
is  to  get  some  racks  made  and  classify  these 
boxes  according  to  the  operation  which  is 
next  to  be  performed  on  the  pieces."  They 
saw  they  had  a  great  many  boxes  there  and 
they  built  a  corresponding  number  of  racks. 
When  they  got  this  work  classified  and  began 
to  lay  it  out,  they  found  they  had  many  more 
racks  than  they  needed.  The  work  kept  mov- 
ing instead  of  standing  there. 

In  many  factories  the  amount  of  work  in 
process,  moving  in  a  desultory  way  through 
the  factory,  is  two  or  three  times  as  great 
as  there  is  any  necessity  for,  if  its  course 


THE   TASK   IDEA  133 

were  properly  planned.  It  not  only  takes  up 
factory  space,  but  it  ties  up  a  large  amount 
of  capital  where  work  is  not  properly 
planned.  The  ordinary  stock-keeper  or  fore- 
man always  wants  to  give  himself  about  two 
or  three  times  as  much  time  as  is  needed  to 
get  the  work  done.  He  always  expects  that 
when  a  man  promises  to  give  him  something 
next  Monday,  it  will  be  Monday  week  or 
Monday  two  weeks  before  he  will  get  it.  And 
that  is  true  if  the  planning  of  that  work  is 
left  to  a  series  of  foremen.  There  are  many 
reasons  why  that  has  to  be  so.  It  is  imprac- 
ticable to  do  it  in  any  other  way.  If,  how- 
ever, all  that  planning  is  done  from  one  cen- 
tral headquarters,  and  each  man  knows  how 
much  he  has  to  accomplish,  and  it  is  put  up 
to  him  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  accomplish 
it,  it  gets  through  pretty  regularly. 

To  send  a  clerk  into  a  shop  to  time  work- 
men with  a  stop-watch  and  set  rates,  or  tasks, 
naturally  arouses  the  opposition  of  the  work- 
men ;  and  while  no  doubt  it  has  been  possible 
in  many  cases  to  get  more  work  by  so  doing, 
no  doubt,  also,  its  effect  on  the  industrial 
conditions  of  the  country  at  large  has  been 
decidedly  detrimental.  It  creates  opposition, 
and  justly. 


134  WORK,   WAGES;,   AND   PROFITS 

Working  at  tasks  is  not  a  hardship,  but  a 
pleasure,  if  they  are  properly  set  and  ade- 
quately rewarded.  Before  task-setting  can 
be  carried  on  satisfactorily,  the  workmen 
must  be  convinced  that  we  are  not  approach- 
ing them  with  a  scheme  for  driving,  but 
with  one  by  which  they  will  be  benefited. 
They  must  be  satisfied,  too,  that  the  man 
who  is  going  to  study  their  work  knows  what 
he  is  doing.  He  should  not  be  a  clerk  picked 
up  at  random  and  given  a  stop-watch;  he 
should  be  a  man  who  knows  what  the  prob- 
lem is  and  how  to  solve  it. 

PEEPARATION  FOR  TASK-SETTINQ 

Among  the  steps  to  be  taken  before  setting 
a  task  are :  to  get  all  machines  and  appliances 
in  proper  order,  to  establish  a  proper  tool- 
room where  suitable  tools  can  be  obtained  for 
work,  to  arrange  to  supply  the  workmen  with 
material  in  the  order  wanted,  to  plan  work 
so  that  it  is  very  seldom  that  one  job  shall 
be  stopped  to  make  way  for  another.  In 
other  words,  before  we  begin  the  problem  of 
task-setting  for  the  individual,  we  should 
arrange  conditions  so  that  he  can  work  to 
the  best  advantage,  with  proper  ventilation 
and  a  comfortable  temperature.    These  con- 


THE   TASK   IDEA  135 

ditions  alone  will  materially  increase  output, 
for  petty  annoyance  of  any  kind  reduces 
efficiency.  If  the  work  requires  mechan- 
ical skill  or  ability,  the  problem  should  be 
studied  by  the  most  capable  mechanic  avail- 
able, and  specific  instructions  given  as  to 
the  best  way  to  do  the  work  and  the  time  re- 
quired to  do  it.  If  necessary  (and  it  usually 
is)  the  investigator  and  task-setter  should 
now  turn  instructor  and  show  the  w^orkmen 
how  to  do  the  work,  and  the  task  should  be 
such  that  a  good  workman  can  readily  learn 
to  perform  it.  If  the  task  is  set  in  this  man- 
ner by  a  man  in  whose  ability  and  honesty 
the  workman  has  confidence,  I  have  but  little 
difficulty  getting  the  task-work  started,  pro- 
vided a  proper  bonus  is  offered. 

This  leads  to  the  question,  What  is  a 
proper  bonus?  The  reply  is  that  it  is  such 
a  bonus  as  will  make  the  workman  feel  that 
he  is  fully  compensated  for  any  extra  exer- 
tion he  puts  forth. 

Judging  from  this  point  of  view,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  bonus  depends  upon  the  sever- 
ity of  the  work.  It  varies,  as  a  rule,  from 
20  per  cent  to  50  per  cent  of  the  day  rate. 
Task  work  does  not  necessarily  mean  more 
severe  work,  but  it  does  mean  more  continu- 


136  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

ous  work,  and  work  under  more  favorable 
conditions,  which  always  produces  greater 
efficiency. 

The  attempt  to  set  a  task  so  severe  that 
very  few  people  can  be  taught  to  perform  it 
is  of  no  advantage  from  any  standpoint,  for 
few  will  continue  to  strive  for  a  reward 
which  they  cannot  reach.  I  have  seen  em- 
ployers who  were  much  surprised  that  they 
did  not  get  an  increased  output  where  they 
had  set  a  reward  for  it — surprised  that  the 
reward  was  being  earned  by  one  or  two 
only  out  of  fifty  or  sixty.  When  a  workman 
has  made  up  his  mind  that  the  reward  is 
beyond  him,  it  has  no  effect. 

PEKFOEMING  THE   TASKS 

Having  set  a  task,  the  responsibility  for 
the  performance  does  not  rest  upon  the  work- 
man alone,  but  must  be  shared  by  the  in- 
structor, who  must  see  that  the  conditions 
under  which  the  task  was  set  are  maintained. 
That  is  an  essential  difference  between  task 
work  with  bonus  and  the  ordinary  form  of 
piece  work.  The  ordinary  form  of  piece 
work  is  to  fix  a  piece  rate,  and  then  let  any- 
body do  it,  if  he  can;  if  he  cannot,  he  gets 
out.    We  believe  that  it  is  our  duty  to  show 


THE   TASK   IDEA  137 

the  man  how  to  do  it,  and  to  do  whatever  we 
can  to  help  hnn  perform  his  task.  To  com- 
plete the  scheme,  therefore,  every  case  of  lost 
bonus  must  be  investigated  and  the  reason 
determined.  Such  investigations,  when  the 
case  is  that  of  a  man  who  has  learned  the 
work,  usually  lead  to  the  discovery  of 
slightly  defective  material,  imperfect  tools, 
machine  out  of  order,  or  any  one  of  a  large 
number  of  things  that  might  hamper  the  out- 
put considerably,  but  which  would  not  be 
noticed  unless  a  special  search  was  made  for 
them.  Thus,  the  setting  of  a  proper  task  for 
a  tcorkman  also  imposes  obligations  on,  or 
sets  tasks  for,  the  management,  with  the  in- 
variable result  of  a  better  and  cheaper 
product, 

TASK   WOEK   IN    A   MACHINE    SHOP 

The  setting  of  machine-shop  tasks  is  to- 
day quite  different  from  what  it  was  ten 
years  ago.  At  that  time  machine  operations 
took  a  relatively  long  time,  and  the  time  be- 
tween operations  was  of  much  less  impor- 
tance. Today,  when  machine  operations  are, 
as  a  rule,  three  times  as  fast,  the  time  of 
changing  jobs  has  become  three  times  as  im- 
portant, and  to  plan  our  work  so  that  there 


138  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

will  be  no  time  lost  in  going  from  one  job  to 
another  has  become  a  far  greater  factor. 
For  each  machine-tool  operative  today,  there 
has  to  be  planned  nearly  three  times  as  much 
work  as  formerly,  and  necessarily  the  super- 
vising force  must  be  much  greater.  It  is  this 
increase  in  machine-tool  capacity  which  has 
induced  me  to  lay  emphasis  on  the  general 
scheduling  of  work,  so  that  no  more  time  than 
necessary  shall  be  taken  in  changing  jobs. 

The  ratio  between  the  number  of  men  actu- 
ally engaged  on  mechanical  work  and  those 
engaged  in  supervising  or  preparing  work 
must  necessarily  be  quite  different  from  what 
it  was  before  the  advent  of  high-speed  steel 
and  methods  of  instruction  and  task  setting. 

Task  setting  in  every  kind  of  shop  is  simi- 
lar, and  although  we  do  not  have  high-speed 
steel  to  reduce  time  in  non-metal-working 
shops,  we  have,  in  many  cases,  something 
similar,  the  benefit  of  ^vhitjh  is  never  fully 
realized  until  a  proper  and  detailed  study  is 
made  of  the  possibilities. 

I  could  give  numerous  illustrations  of  this. 
For  instance,  in  the  bleaching  of  cloth  there 
are  several  jDrocesses,  one  of  which  is  to  sub- 
ject the  cloth  to  the  action  of  an  acid.  I 
found  a  variety  of  opinion  in  the  plant  in 


THE   TASK   IDEA  139 

which  I  first  worked  as  to  how  long  the  cloth 
should  be  subjected  to  this  treatment.  They 
told  me  that  they  thought  an  hour  was  neces- 
sary. By  watching  their  performances,  I 
found  that,  while  the  man  who  told  me  that 
an  hour  was  necessary  usually  subjected  his 
cloth  to  the  action  of  the  acid  for  an  hour,  he 
sometimes  allowed  it  to  stay  in  the  acid  for 
several  hours  and  sometimes  only  five  min- 
utes. That,  of  course,  opened  a  field  for  in- 
vestigation. He  also  told  me  how  strong  the 
acid  should  be,  and  insisted  that  he  always 
kept  it  at  that  strength.  "We  secured  samples 
of  his  solution  at  different  times  and  found 
that  the  strength  varied  from  about  1  per 
cent  to  7  per  cent.  That  also  opened  up  a 
line  of  study.  We  found  but  little  difference 
between  cloth  which  had  been  acted  upon  five 
minutes  and  that  which  had  been  acted  upon 
for  an  hour.  As  a  result  of  our  studies,  we 
found  the  strength  of  acid  needed  and  the 
time  the  cloth  should  remain  subjected  to  it. 
It  had  been  the  practice  to  pile  the  cloth  in 
a  series  of  piles,  and  when  it  had  remained 
long  enough  in  these  piles,  to  sew  the  ends 
together  again  and  to  pull  it  through  the 
subsequent  solutions.  This  method  necessi- 
tated the  sewing  of  the  top  of  the  second  pile 


140  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

to  the  bottom  of  the  first.  As  this  process 
was  usually  repeated  several  times  in  the 
bleaching,  it  is  easily  seen  that  the  pieces  of 
cloth  naturally  became  pretty  thoroughly 
"shuffled"  by  the  time  the  bleaching  was 
completed.  If  the  rope  contained  several 
kinds  of  goods,  as  was  usually  the  case,  the 
kinds  were  often  so  thoroughly  mixed  that 
they  could  not  be  gathered  together  again, 
except  with  much  care  and  labor.  The  re- 
sult was  that  people  frequently  did  not  get 
all  of  the  goods  that  they  sent  to  the  bleach- 
ery,  but  they  got  somebody's  else,  which 
were  sometimes  as  good,  and  sometimes  not. 
The  discovery  that  those  goods  could  be 
treated  in  a  few  minutes  enabled  us  to  make 
a  remarkable  change  in  the  work  and  elim- 
inate a  great  deal  of  labor,  besides  keeping 
all  the  goods  in  exactly  the  order  they  went 
in.  We  devised  a  machine  which  automatic- 
ally turns  upward  the  leading  end  of  a  pile 
of  goods  formed  in  it.  From  this  leading  end 
the  goods  are  pulled  off  at  exactly  the  same 
speed  as  that  at  which  they  are  added  to  the 
pile.  Thus  all  goods  remain  in  the  pile  ex- 
actly the  same  length  of  time  and  are 
treated  exactly  alike,  with  the  result  of  a 
uniformity  of  bleach  before  unattainable. 


THE   TASK    IDEA  141 

The  length  of  time  the  goods  remain  in 
the  pile  is  governed  by  the  judgment  of  the 
bleacher  and  is  limited  by  the  size  of  the 
machine.  Several  machines  may  be  placed 
in  series  if  it  is  desired  to  have  the  time  very 
long. 

By  means  of  this  machine  it  has  been  pos- 
sible to  bleach  a  number  of  small  lots  of 
different  kinds  of  cloth  together,  yet  to  keep 
each  lot  intact,  and  to  deliver  to  the  finisher 
goods  so  uniform  that  he  can  feel  sure  that 
like  treatment  will  produce  like  results.  He 
is  thus  able  to  mix  his  starch  according  to 
his  formula  and  be  sure  of  his  result. 

This  one  thing  has  had  as  much  influence 
on  the  cotton-finishing  industry  as  improved 
tool  steel  has  had  on  the  machine-shop  indus- 
try. I  say  it  has  had — it  will  have,  when  it  is 
extended  to  the  degree  to  which  it  will  ulti- 
mately be  extended.  The  development  is 
proceeding  and  it  is  being  gradually  extended 
throughout  the  country. 

This  suggests  that,  in  a  non-metal-work- 
ing industry,  there  is  nearly  always  some- 
thing in  which  improvement  can  be  made, 
just  as  improvement  has  been  made  in  the 
metal-working  industry  by  high-speed  tool 
steel. 


142  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

We  have  found  that  if  work  is  properly 
planned,  so  that  unnecessary  delays  do  not 
occur  and  the  workmen  are  provided  with 
proper  implements  to  enable  them  to  per- 
form their  tasks  in  the  best  manner  we  can 
devise,  they  can,  as  a  rule,  w^herever  the 
amount  of  work  done  depends  upon  physical 
exertion,  do  an  average  of  three  times  as 
much  as  they  did  on  day  work,  before  plan- 
ning and  task  setting  were  begun,  and  feel 
no  more  tired  at  night. 

MAINTAINING  PEOPER   CONDITIONS 

While  the  setting  of  tasks  under  the  proper 
conditions  and  in  the  proper  spirit,  accom- 
panied by  a  suitable  reward  for  accomplish- 
ment, is  of  great  advantage,  it  is  essential 
that  the  conditions  under  which  the  tasks 
have  been  set  should  be  maintained  perma- 
nently. Failure  to  maintain  these  conditions 
will  work  hardship  on  the  workman  and  will 
make  it  impossible  many  times  for  him  to 
perform  his  task.  No  one,  therefore,  should 
undertake  the  introduction  of  task  work,  un- 
less he  is  prepared  to  maintain  the  condi- 
tions of  his  shop  at  a  high  standard;  other- 
wise dissatisfaction  is  sure  to  spring  up. 

The  sum  of  the  tasks  which  can  be  per- 


THE   TASK   IDEA  143 

formed  by  the  individuals  of  the  shop  is  the 
shop  task,  and  the  sum  of  the  tasks  of  the 
shops  is  the  factory  task.  Every  foreman 
who  can  succeed  in  the  accomplishment  of 
his  shop  task  should  be  properly  rewarded. 
In  such  a  scheme  as  this  the  foreman  and  the 
workmen  are  brought  together  by  mutual 
interest,  and  there  develops  a  spirit  of  co- 
operation. Under  this  scheme  also  it  is 
perfectly  evident  that  there  will  be  a  decided 
increase  in  profits. 

STJMMAPT 

A  task  has  a  psychological  effect  which  is 
very  striking.  Eailroad  schedules  are  tasks. 
Miscellaneous  work  is  done  badly  and  uneco- 
nomically  because  it  is  usually  done  without 
scheduling  or  task-setting.  Tasks  should 
not  be  set  until  we  have  arranged  to  main- 
tain permanently  the  conditions  necessary 
for  the  performance  of  the  task.  The  set- 
ting of  a  proper  task  for  workmen  neces- 
sarily sets  a  task  for  and  imposes  obligations 
upon  the  management.  The  setting  of 
proper  tasks  in  a  machine  shop  today  im- 
poses upon  the  management  more  strenuous 
tasks  than  it  did  before  the  advent  of  high- 
speed tool  steel. 


TRAINING  WORKMEN  IN  HABITS  OF 
INDUSTRY  AND  CO-OPERATION 


Chapter  VIII 

TEAINING   WORKMEN   IX   HABITS    OF   IN- 
DUSTRY AND  CO-OPERATION 

'"T^HE  widespread  interest  in  the  training  of 
"*•  workmen  which  has  been  so  marked  for 
several  years  is  due  to  the  evident  need  for 
better  methods  of  training  than  those  now 
generally  in  vogue.  The  one  point  in  which 
these  methods  as  a  class  seem  to  be  lacking 
is  that  they  do  not  lay  enough  stress  on  the 
fact  that  workmen  mnst  have  industry  as  well 
as  knowledge  and  skill. 

Habits  of  industry  are  far  more  valuable 
than  any  kind  of  knowledge  or  skill,  for  with 
such  habits  as  a  basis,  the  problem  of  acquir- 
ing knowledge  and  skill  is  much  simplified. 
Without  industry,  knowledge  and  skill  are  of 
little  value,  and  sometimes  a  great  detriment. 
If  workmen  are  systematically  trained  in 
habits  of  industry,  it  has  been  found  possible 
not  only  to  train  many  of  them  to  be  efficient 
in  whatever  capacity  they  are  needed,  but  to 
develop  an  effective  system  of  co-ojDeration 
147 


148  "WORK,    AVAGES,    AXD   PROFITS 

between  workmen  and  foremen.  This  is  not 
a  theory,  but  the  record  of  a  fact. 

It  is  too  much  to  hope,  however,  that  the 
methods  here  described  will  be  adopted  ex- 
tensively in  the  near  future,  for  the  great 
majority  of  managers,  whose  success  is  based 
mainly  on  their  personal  ability,  will  hesitate 
before  adopting  what  seems  to  them  the 
slower  and  less  forceful  policy  of  studying 
problems  and  training  workmen ;  but  should 
they  do  so  they  will  have  absolutely  no  de- 
sire to  return  to  their  former  methods. 

The  general  policy  of  the  past  has  been  to 
drive ;  but  the  era  of  force  must  give  way  to 
that  of  knowledge,  and  the  policy  of  the  fu- 
ture will  be  to  teach  and  to  lead,  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  all  concerned.  The  vision  of  work- 
men, in  general,  eager  to  co-operate  in  car- 
rying out  the  results  of  scientific  investiga- 
tions must  be  dismissed  as  a  dream  of  the 
millennium,  but  results  so  far  accomplished 
indicate  that  nothing  will  do  more  to  bring 
about  that  millennium  than  training  work- 
men in  habits  of  industry  and  co-operation. 
A  study  of  the  principles  on  which  such  train- 
ing has  been  successfully  established  will  con- 
vince the  most  skeptical  that  if  they  are  car- 
ried out  the  results  must  follow.    An  outline 


TRAINING   ^VORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  149 

of  these  principles  was  originally  submitted 
to  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers in  a  paper  entitled  ''A  PJonns  System 
of  Rewarding  Labor." 

Under  this  system*  each  man  has  his  work 
assigned  to  him  in  the  form  of  a  task  to  be 
done  by  a  prescribed  method  with  definite 
appliances  and  to  be  completed  within  a  cer- 
tain time.  The  task  is  based  on  a  detailed  in- 
vestigation by  a  trained  expert  of  the  best 
methods  of  doing  the  work,  and  the  task 
setter,  or  his  assistant,  acts  as  an  instructor 
to  teach  the  workmen  to  do  the  work  in  the 
manner  and  time  specified.  If  the  work  is 
done  within  the  time  allowed  by  the  exj^ert, 
and  is  up  to  the  standard  for  quality,  the 
workman  receives  extra  compensation  in  ad- 
dition to  his  day's  pay.  If  it  is  not  done  in 
the  time  set,  or  is  not  up  to  the  standard  for 
quality,  the  workman  receives  his  day's  pay 
only. 

This  system,  in  connection  with  the  other 
work  of  Mr.  F.  W.  Taylor,  greatly  increased 
the  output  and  reduced  the  cost  of  the  work 

*A  Bonus  System  of  Rownrrling  Labor,  December. 
1001,  a  system  of  task  work  with  a  bonus  which  had 
recently  been  introduced  by  the  writer  into  the  large 
machine  shop  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Company,  as  a 
part  of  the  system  of  manatrement,  being  introduced 
into  their  works  by  Mr.  F.  W.  Taylor. 


150  "WORK,    AVAGES,    AND    PEOFITS 

in  the  large  machine  shop  of  the  Bethlehem 
Steel  Company. 

In  the  closing  remarks  on  the  above  paper, 
I  emphasized  the  value  of  the  system  as  a 
means  of  training  workmen,  and  the  late  Dr. 
Eobert  H.  Thurston,  in  his  discussion  of  it, 
was  so  optimistic  as  to  the  results  it  would 
produce  on  ''workmen  and  foremen  and  em- 
ployer alike"  that  I  felt  that  my  enthusiasm 
over  a  new  and  promising  method  had  car- 
ried me,  perhaps,  a  little  too  far.  Results 
have  fully  justified  Dr.  Thurston's  predic- 
tions, however,  for  today  the  method  has 
been  developed  as  a  practical  system  of  edu- 
cation and  training  for  all,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest.  The  fact,  so  repeatedly  em- 
phasized by  Mr.  Taylor,  that  tasks  should  be 
set  only  as' the  result  of  a  scientific  investiga- 
tion, has  proven  of  an  educational  value 
hardly  to  be  over-estimated,  for  the  scientific 
investigation  of  a  process  that  has  been  de- 
veloped without  the  assistance  of  science  al- 
most always  reveals  inconsistencies  which  it 
is  possible  to  eliminate,  thus  perfecting  the 
process,  and,  at  the  same  time,  reducing  its 
cost. 

It  is  this  scientific  investigation  that  points 
to    improvement   in   methods    and   educates 


TRAINING   WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  151 

owners  and  managers,  but  the  average  work- 
man is  interested  only  in  his  daily  wage  and 
has  no  special  desire  to  learn  improved 
methods.  The  results  of  onr  investigations 
are  of  little  practical  value,  therefore,  unless 
we  can  first  teach  our  workmen  how  to  use 
them,  and  then  can  induce  them  to  do  as  they 
are  taught. 

PRACTICAL    APPLICATION. 

For  this  purpose  an  instructor,  a  task,  and 
a  bonus  have  been  found  most  useful.  People 
as  a  rule  prefer  to  work  at  the  speed  and  in 
the  manner  to  which  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed, but  are  usually  willing  to  work  at  any 
reasonable  speed  and  in  any  reasonable  man- 
ner, if  sufficient  inducement  is  offered  for  so 
doing,  and  if  they  are  so  trained  as  to  be  able 
to  earn  the  reward.  In  carrying  out  this 
plan  we  try  to  find  men  who  are  already 
skilled  and  able  to  perform  the  task  set.  It 
frequently  happens,  however,  that  the  num- 
ber of  such  men  is  insufficient  and  it  takes 
time  to  train  the  unskilled  to  a  jDroper  de- 
gree of  efficiency ;  but  with  a  bonus  as  an  in- 
centive, and  a  proper  instructor,  a  very  fair 
proportion  of  the  unskilled  finally  succeed 
in  performing  a  task  that  was  at  first  entirely 
beyond  them. 


152  WORK,    WAGES,    AXD   PROFITS 

Unskilled  "workmen,  who  under  these  con- 
ditions have  become  skilled  in  one  kind  of 
work,  readily  learn  another,  and  soon  begin 
to  realize  that  they  can,  in  a  measure,  at 
least,  make  up  for  their  loss  in  not  having 
learned  a  trade.  As  they  become  more  skilled, 
they  form  better  habits  of  work,  lose  less 
time  and  become  more  reliable.  Their  health 
improves,  and  the  improvement  in  their  gen- 
eral appearance  is  very  marked.  This  im- 
provement in  health  seems  to  be  due  to  a 
more  regular  and  active  life,  combined  with 
a  greater  interest  in  their  work;  for  it  is  a 
well-known  fact  that  work  in  which  ive  are  in- 
terested and  which  holds  our  attention  with- 
out any  effort  on  our  part,  tires  us  much  less 
than  that  ice  have  to  force  ourselves  to  do. 
The  task  with  a  reward  for  its  accomplish- 
ment produces  this  interest  and  holds  the  at- 
tention, with  the  invariable  results  of  more 
work,  better  work,  and  better  satisfied 
workers. 

The  "Task  and  Bonus"  method  of  train- 
ing not  only  furnishes  the  workmen  with  the 
required  knowledge,  but  by  offering  an  in- 
ducement to  utilize  that  knowledge  properly, 
trains  him  in  proper  habits  of  work. 


TRAINING   WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  153 

HABITS   OF   WORK. 

In  all  work  both  quantity  and  quality  must 
be  considered,  and  onr  task  metbod  demands 
a  maximum  quantity,  all  of  which  must  be  up 
to  the  standard  for  quality.  Workmen  trained 
under  this  method  acquire  the  habit  of  doing 
a  large  amount  of  work  well,  and  disprove 
the  oft-repeated  fallacy  that  good  work  must 
be  done  slowly.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  our 
quickest  workers  almost  always  do  the  best 
work  when  following  instructions.  We  set 
great  store  by  the  habit  of  working  quickly, 
for  no  matter  how  much  skill  a  workman  may 
have,  he  will  not  attain  the  best  success  with- 
out quickness. 

Habits  of  work  in  a  mechanic  are  compar- 
able with  habits  of  thought  in  an  engineer, 
and  our  industrial  schools  should  make 
proper  habits  of  work  the  basis  on  which  to 
build  their  training  in  manual  dexterity.  The 
engineering  school  does  not  make  engineers, 
but  tries  to  furnish  its  graduates  with  an 
equipment  that  will  enable  them  to  utilize 
readily  and  rapidly  their  own  experience  and 
that  of  others.  In  the  same  manner,  indus- 
trial training  schools  should  equip  their  grad- 
uates with  habits  of  industry  that  will  make 


154  WORK,    AVAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

them,  as  meclianics,  capable  and  willing  to 
do  a  large  amount  of  good  work.  As  I  see  it, 
one  of  the  most  valuable  assets  that  the  grad- 
uate of  a  technical  college  or  an  industrial 
school  can  have  is  the  habit  of  doing  promptly 
and  to  the  best  of  his  ability  the  work  set  be- 
fore him.  With  this  habit  and  reasonable  in- 
telligence he  can  make  good  progress.  This 
habit  is  one  of  the  first  results  of  the  "Task 
and  Bonus"  system,  for  it  is  a  noticeable 
fact  that  task  workers  form  habits  of  indus- 
try which  they  maintain  even  when  on  day's 
work  with  no  bonus  in  sight. 

In  all  schemes  for  technical  or  industrial 
education  or  training  that  I  have  seen,  em- 
phasis has  been  laid  on  the  importance  of 
knowing  how.  I  wish  to  add  that  ability  and 
willingness  to  do  are  of  at  least  equal  im- 
portance. Many  skilled  workmen  make  their 
skill  an  excuse  for  slow  work,  and  unless 
when  they  are  taught  hoiv  to  do  they  are  also 
taught  to  do  efficiently,  they  never  attain  the 
success  that  should  be  theirs. 

Under  our  task  system  the  workman  is 
taught  hoiv  and  trained  to  do  at  the  same 
time.  Knoiving  and  doing  are  thus  closely 
associated  in  his  mind,  and  it  is  our  experi- 
ence that  the  habit  of  doing  efficiently  what 


TRAINING   WORKMEN   TO   INDUSTRY  155 

is  laid  out  for  him  becomes  so  fixed  that  he 
performs  without  hesitation  tasks  at  which 
a  man  not  trained  to  follow  instructions 
would  absolutely  fail.  This  is  exactly  what 
should  be  expected,  and  means  nothing  more 
than  that  in  our  industrial  army  the  work- 
man who  has  gained  confidence  in  his  su- 
perior follows  his  orders  without  hesitation, 
just  as  the  private  soldier  follows  the  orders 
of  his  officer,  even  though  he  does  not  see 
where  they  lead.  This  is  not  a  fanciful  com- 
parison, for  I  have  known  more  than  one  case 
in  which  a  workman  expressed  his  doubts  as 
to  the  possibility  of  doing  a  task,  and  on  get- 
ting the  reply  that  the  task  was  all  right, 
said,  "If  you  say  it  can  be  done,  I  will  do  it." 
Workers  who  have  been  unable  to  perform 
their  tasks  in  the  time  set  have  frequently 
asked  to  have  an  instructor  stand  by  them 
with  a  stop-watch  to  time  the  detail  opera- 
tions and  show  them  just  wherein  they  failed, 
with  the  result  that  they  soon  learned  to  earn 
their  bonus  regularly. 

The  first  essential  for  a  workman  to  be- 
come successful  under  our  task  system  is  to 
ohey  orders,  and  having  acquired  this  habit 
he  soon  finds  out  that  a  skilled  investigator 
can  learn  more  about  doing  a  piece  of  work 


156  WORK,    WAGES,    AKD    PROFITS 

than  he  knows  "off-hand."  Having  satis- 
fied himself  on  this  point,  he  goes  to  work  at 
the  tasks  set  him  with  the  determination  to 
earn  his  bonus,  with  the  result,  if  he  has  the 
natural  ability,  that  he  soon  becomes  a  rapid 
and  skillful  workman. 

Learning  to  obey  orders  is  often  the  hard- 
est part  of  the  workman's  task,  for  a  large 
percentage  of  men  seem  so  constituted  as  to 
be  apparently  unable  to  do  as  they  are  told. 
As  a  rule,  however,  this  is  a  feature  of  a  cer- 
tain stage  of  their  development  only,  which, 
under  proper  conditions,  they  overcome  at 
a  later  date.  For  instance,  many  very  cap- 
able men  who  were  impatient  of  restraint 
when  they  should  have  learned  a  trade,  find 
themselves  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  or  less, 
in  the  class  of  unskilled  workmen,  although 
their  ability  would  have  enabled  them  to  do 
well  at  almost  any  trade.  It  is  this  class  of 
men,  when  they  have  come  to  realize  the  dif- 
ference between  a  skilled  workman  and  one 
not  skilled,  that  furnishes  us  with  many  of 
our  best  task  workers.  Such  men  often  see 
in  our  instructor,  task,  bonus,  a  chance  to  re- 
deem some  of  their  earlier  errors,  and  by 
learning  thoroughly  how  to  do,  and  doing 
one  thing  after  another,  in  the  best  way  that 


TRAINING    WOUKMKX    TO    IXDISTUV  157 

can  be  devised,  get  in  a  short  time  a  train- 
ing that  does  much  to  make  up  for  the  pre- 
vious neglect  of  their  opportunities. 

BOSSES    AS    SERVANTS    AND    TEACHERS. 

In  a  shop  operated  on  this  system,  where 
each  workman  has  his  task,  one  man  whom 
we  term  a  gang  boss  usualh'  tends  a  group 
of  workmen,  supplying  them  with  work  and 
appliances  and  removing  the  work  when  fin- 
ished. Such  a  man  is  paid  a  bonus  for  each 
workman  who  earns  a  bonus,  and  an  extra 
bonus  if  all  of  his  group  earn  their  bonuses. 
The  result  is  that  so  long  as  the  workmen 
perform  their  tasks,  though  nominally  their 
boss,  he  is  really  their  servant,  and  becomes 
the  boss  only  when  a  workman  fails  to  per- 
form his  task.  The  loss  of  money  to  the  gang 
boss  in  case  a  workman  fails  to  earn  his 
bonus  is  such  that  he  constantly  has  his  eye 
on  the  poor  workman  and  helps  him  all  he 
can.  If,  however,  he  finds  that  the  workman 
is  incapable  of  being  taught,  he  uses  his  in- 
fluence to  have  a  better  man  put  in  his  place. 

In  starting  a  shop  on  task  work,  an  in- 
structor who  is  capable  of  teaching  each 
workman  how  to  perform  his  task  must  be 
constantly  on  hand,  and  must,  as  a  rule,  teach 


158  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

one  workman  at  a  time.  This  instructor  may 
be  the  man  wlio  lias  investigated  the  work 
and  set  the  task,  or  he  may  simply  be  an  in- 
structor capable  of  following  out  the  work 
of  such  an  investigator,  but  he  must  be  read- 
ily available  as  long  as  any  of  the  workmen 
need  his  services,  for  we  make  it  a  rule  not 
to  ask  a  man  to  do  anything  in  a  certain  man- 
ner and  time  unless  we  are  prepared  to  show 
him  how  to  do  it  as  we  specify. 

TASK    SETTING. 

A  task  must  always  be  set  for  performing 
a  definite  operation  in  a  specific  manner,  a 
standard  time  being  set  for  its  accomplish- 
ment. As  compensation,  the  workman  is  paid 
for  the  time  set  plus  a  percentage  (usually 
20  to  50)  of  that  time,  provided  the  work  is 
done  in  the  time  allowed  or  less.  If  the  time 
taken  is  more  than  the  time  allowed,  the 
workman  gets  his  day's  pay  only.  The  fact 
that  in  setting  the  task  the  manner  of  per- 
forming the  operation  is  specified  enables  us 
to  set  another  task  for  the  same  operation  if 
we  develop  a  better  or  quicker  method. 

If  after  having  performed  his  task  a  work- 
man wishes  to  suggest  a  quicker  or  better 
method  for  doing  the  same  work,  he  is  given 


TRAINING   WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  159 

an  opportunity  if  possible  to  demonstrate 
his  method.  If  the  suggested  method  really 
proves  to  be  quicker  or  better,  it  is  adopted 
as  the  standard,  and  the  workman  is  given  a 
suitable  reward.  No  ivorkman,  Jwtuever,  is 
allowed  to  make  suggestions  until  he  has  first 
done  the  ivork  in  the  manner  and  time  speci- 
fied. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  investigator  to  de- 
velop methods  and  set  tasks,  and  unless  the 
methods  developed  by  him  are  pretty  gen- 
erally a  great  deal  better  than  those  sug- 
gested by  the  workmen,  he  is  not  retained  in 
the  position.  Working  at  tasks  is  pretty 
good  training  for  task  setting,  and  I  have 
gotten  more  than  one  task  setter  from  the 
ranks  of  task  doers. 

Inasmuch  as,  after  a  satisfactory  method 
has  been  established,  a  large  proportion  of 
the  work  of  the  task  setter  is  the  study  of  the 
time  in  which  operations  can  be  performed, 
he  is  popularly  known  as  the  ''Time  Study" 
man.  This  term  has  led  to  a  misconception 
of  his  duties  and  has  caused  many  honest 
people  to  claim  that  they  were  putting  in  our 
methods  when  they  have  put  a  stop  watch  in 
the  hands  of  a  bright  clerk  and  told  him  to 
find  out  how  quickly  the  best  men  were  doing 


160  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

certain  work.  Unquestionably  they  have  in 
many  cases  been  able  to  set  more  accurate 
piece  rates  by  this  method  than  they  had  been 
able  to  set  by  the  older  methods,  but  they 
are  still  far  from  our  ideal,  in  which  the  best 
expert  available  investigates  the  work,  stand- 
ardizes the  appliances  and  methods,  and  sets 
a  task  that  involves  utilizing  them  to  their 
very  best  efficiency.  While  the  stop  watch  is 
often  used  to  establish  a  method,  it  is  used 
to  determine  the  time  needed  to  do  the  work 
only  when  the  standard  methods  and  appli- 
ances are  used  efficiently.  Stop-watch  ob- 
servations on  work  done  inefficiently,  or  with 
ill-adapted  appliances,  or  by  poor  methods, 
are  absurd  and  serve  only  to  bring  into  dis- 
repute all  work  in  which  the  stop  watch  is 
used.  Moreover,  such  use  of  the  stop  watch 
justly  excites  the  contempt  and  opposition  of 
the  workman. 

To  make  real  and  permanent  progress,  the 
expert  must  be  able  to  standardize  appli- 
ances and  methods  and  write  up  such  in- 
structions as  will  enable  an  intelligent  work- 
man to  follow  them.  Such  standards  become 
permanent,  and  if  the  workman  is  paid  a 
proper  bonus  for  doing  the  work  in  the  man- 
ner and  time  set,  he  not  only  helps  maintain 


TRAINING    "WOliKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  Kit 

the  standards,  but  soon  begins  to  exert  liis 
influence  to  help  the  progress  of  standardi- 
zation. 

STANDARDIZATION. 

All  work,  and  all  knowledge,  for  that  mat- 
ter, may  be  divided  into  two  classes :  Expert 
and  Standard.  Expert  knowledge  may  be 
described  as  that  which  has  not  been  reduced 
to  writing  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  gener- 
ally available,  or  exists  only  in  the  minds  of 
a  few.  By  analogy,  expert  work  is  work  the 
methods  of  doing  which  either  are  known 
only  to  a  few  or  have  not  been  so  clearly  de- 
scribed as  to  enable  a  man  familiar  with  that 
class  of  work  to  understand  them.  On  the 
other  hand,  standard  methods  are  those  that 
are  generally  used,  or  have  been  so  clearly 
described  and  proved  that  a  man  familiar 
with  that  class  of  work  can  understand  them 
and  safely  employ  them. 

The  largest  problem  of  our  expert  is  to 
standardize  expert  methods  and  knowledge. 
When  a  method  has  been  standardized,  a 
task  may  be  set,  and  by  means  of  an  instruc- 
tor and  a  bonus  a  method  of  maintaining  that 
standard  permanently  may  be  established. 
With  increasing  efficiency  on  the  part  of  the 


16/i  "WORK,    WAGES,    AXD    PROFITS 

workman  the  standard  always  has  a  tendency 
to  become  higher.  AVe  have  here  the  work- 
man and  the  foreman  using  their  efforts  to 
maintain  standards,  for  both  fail  to  obtain  a 
bonus  if  the  standard  is  not  maintained. 
This  is  so  different  from  the  case  in  which 
the  standard  is  maintained  only  by  the  man 
in  authority  with  a  club,  that  there  can  be  no 
comjDarison.  From  workmen  trained  under 
these  methods,  we  get  a  good  supply  of  in- 
structors and  foremen,  and  occasionally  an 
investigator.  From  our  investigators,  who 
standardize  our  methods  and  appliances,  we 
get  our  superintendents,  and  our  system  of 
management  thus  becomes  self-perpetuating. 
The  superintendent  who  believes  that  the  sov- 
ereign cure  for  all  troubles  is  to  go  into  the 
shop  and  raise  a  row,  has  no  place  under 
our  methods ;  for  when  the  task  and  bonus 
has  been  established,  errors  are  far  more  fre- 
quent in  the  office  than  in  the  shop,  and  the 
man  who  is  given  to  bluffing  soon  finds  that 
his  methods  produce  no  effect  on  men  who 
are  following  written  instructions. 

OBSTACLES. 

Among  the  obstacles  to  the  introduction  of 
this  system  is  the  fact  that  it  forces  every- 


TRAINING    A^OI;KMI■:X    TO    INDUSTRY  163 

body  to  do  liis  duty.  Many  a  man  in  autlior- 
ity  wants  a  system  that  will  force  everybody 
else  to  do  his  duty,  but  will  allow  him  to  do 
as  he  pleases.  The  ''Task  and  Bonus"  sys- 
tem when  carried  out  properly  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons,  and  the  man  who  wishes 
to  force  the  workman  to  do  his  task  properly 
must  see  that  the  task  is  properly  set  and 
that  proper  means  are  available  for  doing 
it.  It  is  not  only  the  workman's  privilege, 
but  his  duty,  to  report  whatever  interferes 
with  his  earning  his  bonus,  and  the  loss  of 
bonus  soon  educates  him  to  perform  this 
duty  no  matter  how  disagreeable  it  is  at  first. 
We  investigate  every  loss  of  bonus,  and  place 
the  blame  where  it  belongs.  Sometimes  we 
find  it  belongs  pretty  high  up,  for  the  man 
who  has  neglected  his  duty  under  one  system 
of  management  is  pretty  apt  to  neglect  it  at 
first  under  another.  He  must  either  learn  to 
perform  his  duty  or  yield  his  place,  for  the 
pressure  from  those  who  lose  by  his  neglect 
or  incompetence  is  continuous  and  insistent. 
This  becomes  evident  as  soon  as  the  task 
and  bonus  gets  fairly  started  and  the  effect 
is  that  opposition  to  its  extension  develops 
on  the  part  of  all  who  are  not  sure  of  mak- 
ing good  under  it,  or  whose  expert  knowledge 


164  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

is  sncli  that  they  fear  it  will  all  soon  be  stand- 
ardized. The  opposition  of  such  people, 
however,  is  bound  to  give  way  sooner  or 
later,  for  the  really  capable  man  and  the 
true  expert  welcome  these  methods  as  soon 
as  they  understand  them. 

HELPS. 

The  fact  that  the  task  and  the  bonus  en- 
able us  to  utilize  our  knowledge  and  maintain 
our  standards,  and  that  the  setting  of  tasks 
after  a  scientific  investigation  must  neces- 
sarily not  only  increase  our  knowledge  but 
standardize  it,  brings  to  our  assistance  the 
clearest  thinkers  and  hardest  workers  in  any 
organization.  Our  greatest  help,  however, 
comes  from  the  workmen  themselves.  The 
most  intelligent  soon  realize  that  we  really 
mean  to  help  them  advance  themselves,  and 
the  ambitious  ones  welcome  the  aid  of  our 
instructor  to  remove  obstacles  that  have  been 
in  their  way  for  perhaps  years.  As  soon  as 
one  such  man  has  earned  his  bonus  for  sev- 
eral days,  there  is  usually  another  man 
ready  to  try  the  task,  and  unless  there  is  a 
great  lack  of  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
men  in  the  management,  the  sentiment  rap- 
idly grows  in  favor  of  our  task  work. 


TRAINING   WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  165 

DAY    WORK   AND    PIECE    WORK. 

As  used  by  me,  the  "Task  and  Bonus" 
system  of  pay  is  really  a  combination  of  the 
best  features  of  both  day  and  piece  work. 
The  workman  is  assured  his  day  rate  while 
being  taught  to  perform  his  task,  and  as  the 
bonus  for  its  accomplishment  is  a  percentage 
of  the  time  allowed,  the  compensation  when 
the  task  has  been  performed  is  a  fixed  quan- 
tity, and  is  thus  really  the  equivalent  of  a 
piece  rate.  Our  method  of  payment  then  is 
piece  work  for  the  skilled,  and  day  work  for 
the  unskilled,  it  being  remembered  that  if 
there  is  only  work  enough  for  a  few,  it  will 
alwaj'^s  be  given  to  the  skilled.  This  acts  as 
a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  unskilled,  and  all 
who  have  any  ambition  try  to  get  into  the 
bonus  class.  This  cannot  be  too  clearly  borne 
in  mind,  for  ive  have  here  all  the  advantages 
of  day  ivork  combined  with  those  of  piece 
ivorJc  tvithout  the  disadvantage  of  either,  for 
the  day  worker  who  has  no  ambition  to  be- 
come a  bonus  worker  usually  of  his  own  ac- 
cord seeks  work  elsewhere,  and  our  working 
force  soon  becomes  composed  of  bonus  work- 
ers, and  day  workers  who  are  trying  to  be- 
come bonus  workers. 


166  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

CO-OPERATION. 

When  25  per  cent,  of  the  workers  in  a  plant 
are  bonus  workers,  they,  with  those  who  are 
striving  to  get  into  their  chiss,  control  the 
sentiment,  and  a  strong  spirit  of  co- 
operation develops.  This  spirit  of  co-opera- 
tion in  living  up  to  the  standards  set  by  the 
experts,  which  is  the  only  way  a  bonus  can 
be  earned,  benefits  the  employer  by  the  pro- 
duction of 

More  work. 

Better  work. 

Cheaper  work. 
It  benefits  the  workmen  by  giving  them 

Better  wages. 

Increased  skill. 

Better  habits  of  work. 

More  pleasure  and  pride  in  their  work. 

Not  the  least  important  of  these  results  is 
the  fact  that  the  workmen  take  more  pride  in 
their  work,  for  this  of  itself  insures  good 
work.  As  an  instance  of  this  pride,  I  have 
known  girls  working  under  the  task  system 
to  form  a  society,  admission  to  which  was 
confined  to  those  that  could  earn  bonus  on 
their  work ;  the  workers  themselves  thus  put- 
ting a  premium  on  industry  and  efficiency. 


TILMNIXG   WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  167 

The  fact  that  we  get  better  work,  as  well  as 
quicker  work,  seems  inconceivable  to  some. 
The  reasons  are: 

1. — Careful  inspection,  for  no  bonus  is 
paid  unless  the  work  is  up  to  the  standard. 

2. — Work  done  by  a  prescribed  method, 
and  always  in  the  same  way. 

3. — Attention  needed  to  do  high-speed 
work,  which  keeps  the  mind  of  the  worker  on 
what  he  is  doing  and  soon  results  in  excep- 
tional skill. 

The  development  of  skilled  workmen  by 
this  method  is  sure  and  rapid,  and  wherever 
the  method  has  been  properly  established, 
the  problem  of  securing  satisfactory  help  has 
been  solved.  During  the  past  few  years  while 
there  has  been  so  much  talk  about  the  "grow- 
ing inefficiency  of  labor,"  I  have  repeatedly 
proved  the  value  of  this  method  in  increas- 
ing its  efficiency,  and  the  fact  that  the  sys- 
tem works  automatically,  when  once  thor- 
oughly established,  puts  the  possibility  of 
training  their  oivn  workmen  ivithin  the  reach 
of  all  manufacturers. 

TRAINING  HELP  A  FUNCTION"  OF  MANAGEMENT. 

Any  system  of  management  that  did  not 
make  provision   for    obtaining   proper   ma- 


168  WOKK,    WAGES,    AXD   PROFITS 

terials  to  work  with  would  be  thought 
very  lax.  The  day  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  any  management  that  does  not 
make  provision  for  training  the  workmen 
it  needs,  will  not  be  regarded  as  much  bet- 
ter, for  it  is  by  this  means  only  that  a  sys- 
tem of  management  can  be  made  permanent. 
To  be  satisfied  to  draw  skilled  workmen  from 
the  surplus  of  other  plants  means,  as  a  rule, 
that  second-rate  men  only  are  wanted,  and 
indicates  a  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  value 
of  well-trained,  capable  men.  The  fact  that 
few  plants  only  have  established  methods  of 
training  workmen  does  not  necessarily  mean 
that  the  managers  are  satisfied  with  that  con- 
dition, but  rather  that  they  know  of  no  train- 
ing system  that  can  be  satisfactorily  oper- 
ated in  their  plants,  and  as  questions  are 
sure  to  be  asked  about  the  method  of  intro- 
ducing this  system,  a  few  words  on  that  sub- 
ject may  not  be  amiss,  it  being  borne  in  mind 
that  the  changing  of  a  system  of  man^ge- 
ment  is  a  very  serious  matter,  and  cannot  he 
done  by  a  busy  superintendent  in  Ms  spare 
time. 

METHOD    OF    INTEODUCTION". 

In  order  to  set  tasks,  we  must  know  before- 
hand what  work  is  to  be  done,  and  who  is  to 


TRAINING    WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  169 

do  it.  In  order  to  pay  a  bonus,  we  must 
know  after  the  work  is  done  whether  it  was 
done  exactly  as  specified.  Hence  our  first 
care  in  starting  to  introduce  this  method  is 
to  provide  means  for  assigning  tasks  to  the 
workmen,  and  means  for  obtaining  such  a 
complete  set  of  returns  as  will  show  just 
what  each  man  has  done.  When  this  much 
has  been  introduced,  the  output  of  a  plant  is 
always  increased  and  the  cost  of  manufac- 
ture reduced. 

The  next  step  is  to  separate  such  of  the 
work  as  is  standard,  or  can  be  readily  made 
standard,  from  the  more  miscellaneous  work, 
and  to  set  tasks  for  the  standard  work.  Then 
we  begin  to  standardize,  and  as  fast  as  pos- 
sible reduce  the  expert  and  increase  the  rou- 
tine work.  The  effort  to  classify  and  stand- 
ardize expert  knowledge  is  most  helpful  to 
the  experts  themselves,  and  in  a  short  time 
they  begin  to  realize  that  they  can  use  their 
knowledge  far  more  efficiently  than  they  ever 
dreamed. 

As  soon  as  work  has  been  standardized,  it 
can  be  intelligently  planned  and  scheduled, 
each  workman  being  given  his  specific  task, 
for  which  he  is  paid  a  bonus  when  it  is  done 
in  the  manner  and  time  specified.    As  bonus 


170  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

is  paid  only  on  the  written  statement  of  the 
inspector  that  the  whole  task  has  been  prop- 
erly done,  failure  to  earn  a  bonus  indicates 
that  our  plans  have  not  been  carried  out. 

An  investigation  of  every  case  of  lost 
bonus  keeps  the  management  closely  in  touch 
with  the  progress  of  the  work,  and  as  the 
workmen  are  ever  ready  to  help  disclose  and 
remove  the  obstacles  that  prevent  their  earn- 
ing their  bonus,  the  managing  problem  is 
greatly  simplified;  for,  as  one  of  my  co- 
workers has  very  aptly  put  it,  ''the  frictional 
lag  due  to  the  inertia  of  the  ivorlcman  is 
changed  hy  the  honus  into  an  acceleration." 

With  increase  in  the  number  of  bonus 
workers,  this  force  of  acceleration  increases, 
and  not  only  does  the  careless  worker,  who 
by  his  bad  work  prevents  some  other  from 
earning  his  bonus,  fall  into  disfavor,  but  the 
foreman  or  superintendent  who  is  lax  in  his 
duty  finds  his  short-comings  constantly 
brought  before  him  by  the  man  whose  duty 
it  is  to  investigate  all  cases  of  lost  bonus. 

MORAL    TEAINING. 

The  fact  that  under  this  system,  every- 
body, high  and  low,  is  forced  by  his  co- 
workers to  do  his  duty  (for  some  one  else  al- 


TRAINING    WORKMEN    TO    INDUSTRY  171 

ways  suffers  when  he  fails)  acts  as  a  strong 
moral  tonic  to  the  community,  and  many 
whose  ideas  of  truth  and  honesty  are  vague 
find  habits  of  truth  and  honesty  forced  upon 
them.  This  is  the  case  with  those  in  high 
authority,  as  well  as  those  in  humble  posi- 
tions, and  the  man  highest  in  authority  finds 
that  he  also  must  conform  to  laws,  if  he 
wishes  the  proper  co-operation  of  those 
under  him. 


FIXING  HABITS   OF    INDUSTRY 


Chapter  IX 

FIXING   HABITS    OF    INDUSTEY 

T  HAVE  done  much  to  train  and  educate 
workmen,  and  consequently  have  seen 
the  far-reaching  results  that  would  follow 
if  manufacturers  in  general  would  adopt  a 
policy  of  educating  and  training  the  work- 
men they  need.  The  preceding  chapter  on 
''Training  Workmen  in  Habits  of  Industry 
and  Co-operation"  defines  the  general  ad- 
vantages of  such  a  policy.  In  this  chapter  I 
shall  give  specific  examples  of  what  has 
been  done. 

In  1905  I  was  engaged  by  a  cotton  mill  to 
take  up  the  question  of  making  their  labor 
more  efficient,  but  as  they  were  very  con- 
servative people  we  proceeded  slowly.  The 
superintendent  and  foremen  were  most  of 
them  English  or  Scotch,  who  were  satisfied 
that  the  way  they  had  done  things  in  the  old 
country  was  all  right,  and  they  objected  to 
any  change.  The  work  proceeded  very 
slowly  indeed,  but  we  gradually  succeeded 
in  getting  our  time  and  record  system  estab- 
175 


176  WORK^   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

lished  and  then  a  reliable  cost  system  soon 
followed.  We  were,  however,  unable  to  do 
anything  for  a  long  time  that  had  any  great 
effect  on  the  work  itself,  and  after  we  had 
succeeded  in  getting  the  cost  system  in  oper- 
ation I  told  the  treasurer  that  we  had  done 
about  all  that  was  possible  under  the  condi- 
tions existing.  The  little  that  had  been  done, 
however,  was  so  beneficial  that  in  April, 
1908,  the  treasurer  asked  me  to  come  and 
finish  up  the  job,  saying  that  he  now  had  a 
new  superintendent  who  was  in  sympathy 
with  the  work,  and  that  the  worst  foremen 
were  gone. 

During  the  year  or  more  within  which  I 
had  not  visited  the  mill,  attempts  had  been 
made  to  extend  the  work  already  started,  but, 
from  lack  of  experience  on  the  part  of  those 
engaged  in  it,  practically  no  progress  had 
been  made. 

When  I  took  it  up  again  my  instructions 
were  carried  out  conscientiously,  and  men  de- 
tailed for  the  work  were  kept  on  it  continu- 
ously. 

Twelve  new  looms  had  recently  been  in- 
stalled in  the  weave  room,  and  as  soon  as  a 
competent  man  could  be  got  we  began  to 
study  how  to  run  these  looms  most  efficiently. 


FIXING   HABITS   OF    INDUSTRY  177 

A  pick  counter  was  put  on  each  loom,  and  the 
best  weaver  in  the  room  (a  Pole  named  Sam- 
tak)  was  given  four  of  them  to  run. 

A  trained  observer  with  a  stop-watch  stood 
by  the  weaver  and  studied  all  his  motions  in 
detail.  He  learned  how  this  skilful  weaver 
stopped  and  started  his  loom,  how  he  re- 
moved the  empty  bobbin  from  the  shuttle  and 
put  a  new  one  in,  how  he  tied  the  knot.  From 
these  observations  he  found  out  how  much 
time  it  was  necessary  for  the  loom  to  be 
stopped  in  a  day,  and  consequently  what 
proportion  of  the  time  it  should  be  actually 
weaving.  No  time  was  allowed  for  *4oom 
out  of  order,"  or  ''no  filling,"  or  any  other 
cause  that  might  be  eliminated.  Steps  were 
taken  to  be  sure  that  the  loom  was  in  good 
order  and  that  proper  filling  should  always 
be  on  hand,  and  a  task  was  set  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  all  removable  obstacles  would  be 
removed.  This  task  was  fixed  as  the  number 
of  picks  the  loom  should  throw  provided 
these  unnecessary  delays  were  eliminated, 
and  a  substantial  bonus  was  offered  for  its 
accomplishment.  It  was  expressed  as  a  per- 
centage of  the  total  number  of  picks  the  loom 
would  throw  if  it  ran  constantly  all  day  with- 
out any  stop.    It  is  interesting  to  note  that 


178  WORK,   WAGES,   AND  PROFITS 

the  task  was  greater  than  the  best  weaver 
had  been  able  to  accomplish  regularly  before 
we  had  made  special  provision  to  remove  the 
obstacles.  Having  decided  upon  the  task, 
three  of  the  next  best  weavers  in  the  room 
were  chosen  to  do  it  and  Samtak  was  the  in- 
structor to  teach  them  how. 

The  three  men  chosen  are  those  whose 
names  are  at  the  top  of  Chart  II  (facing  page 
182).  They  were  all  Greeks,  speaking  almost 
no  English.  The  instructor,  Samtak,  is  a 
Pole,  whose  English  is  not  very  good,  and 
who  could  make  himself  intelligible  to  the 
Greeks  only  by  signs.  The  first  man,  Papa- 
dimitri,*  declined  to  work  under  instructions 
and  on  task  work.  He  was  not  discharged 
but  allowed  to  work  his  own  way  until  he 
should  see  where  his  interest  lay.  We  there- 
fore had  Samtak  give  all  of  his  attention  to 
the  other  two,  our  observer,  who  had  studied 
Samtak 's  work,  being  constantly  on  hand 
keeping  a  record  of  the  number  of  picks  each 
loom  threw  per  hour,  and  removing  the  ob- 
stacles to  the  men's  performing  the  task. 
Both  men  failed  to  earn  a  bonus  on  the  first 
day — this  is  shown  by  the  red  mark — ^but  on 
the  next  two  days  they  came  so  near  it  that 

*  Papadimitri  is  now  (April,  1913)  conducting  a 
training  school  for  weavers  in  the  same  mill. 


FIXING    HABITS    OF    INDUSTRY  179 

it  was  allowed  them,  and  they  got  a  black 
mark. 

Our  observer,  however,  satisfied  himself 
that  failure  to  perform  the  task  was  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  warps  and  filling  were  not 
coming  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  and  that 
some  of  the  looms  were  not  just  right.  He 
accordingly  ceased  for  a  time  to  urge  the 
men  to  perform  the  task,  and  devoted  his  at- 
tention to  getting  things  in  such  a  condition 
that  these  obstacles  would  be  removed.  The 
black  cross  shows  that  the  men  were  on  day 
work  and  were  making  no  special  effort  to 
perform  a  task.  At  the  end  of  eleven  days 
our  observer  felt  that  conditions  were  all 
right  and  he  started  the  men  again.  Papa- 
dimitri  by  this  time  had  concluded  that  we 
were  going  to  ''play  fair"  and  wanted  to 
start  too.  The  black  lines  on  the  chart  show 
how  soon  all  began  to  make  their  bonus 
pretty  regularly. 

It  was  necessary,  hoivever,  for  our  ob- 
server to  he  constantly  on  hand  and  to  keep 
a  record  of  their  work  hour  by  hour,  for  he 
would  frequently  find  some  loom  falling  be- 
hind, which,  if  not  looked  after,  would  cause 
the  weaver  to  lose  his  bonus.  Whenever  he 
found  a  loom  not  doing  all  it  should  he  called 


180  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

Samtak's  attention  to  it,  with  the  result  that 
the  cause  was  soon  discovered  and  removed ; 
but  Samtak  seldom  at  first  noticed  a  lagging 
loom.  Again,  Samtak  was  at  first  very  slow 
at  making  any  complaint  if  anything  was 
wrong,  but  the  example  of  our  instructor  and 
the  incentive  of  a  bonus  of  6  cents  for  each 
weaver  who  made  his  bonus,  and  10  cents 
each  if  all  made  bonus,  gradually  taught  him 
to  look  out  for  their  interests  and  his  own. 
It  took  the  entire  time  of  our  observer  for 
several  weeks  to  get  the  conditions  such  that 
no  obstacle  would  arise  which  Samtak  could 
not  remove.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
while  Samtak  was  a  good  weaver,  he  was  not 
a  teacher.  He  had  in  the  past  been  trained 
not  to  object  when  things  went  wrong,  but  to 
do  the  best  he  could  without  complaining. 
Even  with  the  example  of  the  instructor  and 
the  incentive  of  a  bonus,  it  was  some  time 
before  he  realized  that  we  really  intended 
that  he  should  assert  himself. 

We  began  to  study  the  looms  about  the  first 
of  June,  and  started  the  first  task  workers 
early  in  July,  but  it  was  nearly  the  middle 
of  August  before  we  were  ready  to  start 
others  on  task  work.  By  this  time  other 
weavers  were  willing  to  try,  but  it  required 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  181 

the  attention  of  both  Samtak  and  our  ob- 
server to  get  these  men  going  right.  It  took 
the  first  two  of  these  men  about  three  weeks 
to  become  skilful  enough  to  do  the  task,  but 
the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  did  it  from  the 
start.  During  September  and  October  several 
more  gradually  became  proficient. 

By  this  time  we  had  gotten  all  of  the  best 
weavers  on  task  work,  and  henceforth  we 
had  to  train  the  poorer  ones,  which  partially 
accounts  for  the  sudden  increase  of  red 
marks.  Another  cause  for  this  increase  was 
the  fact  that  several  trained  weavers  left. 
They  had  not  yet  become  convinced  that  we 
were  going  to  treat  them  fairly,  and  left  for 
some  insignificant  cause.  The  dropping  out 
of  these  men  shows  the  importance  of  time 
in  doing  this  work.  Until  the  workmen  be- 
come thoroughly  satisfied  through  their  own 
experience  that  the  job  they  have  is  the  best 
one  they  can  get,  they  may  be  stampeded  by 
a  very  slight  cause. 

Our  gang  had  now  become  too  large  for 
Samtak,  whose  allotment  was  twelve  weav- 
ers ;  and  we  started  another  gang,  placing  in 
charge  of  it  the  weaver  Shea,  whose  name 
indicates  his  nationality.  He  was  the  only 
bonus  weaver  who  could  speak  English. 


182  WORK,    WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

While  there  are  some  exceptions  the  chart 
has  a  tendency  to  become  blacker  slowly  as 
time  progresses. 

Chart  III*  shows  the  record  of  Samtak's 
gang  from  March  1  to  October  9,  1909.  This 
chart  distinctly  blackens  as  time  progresses. 
This  means  more  than  that  the  men  have  ac- 
quired the  skill  to  do  the  work.  They  have 
acquired  the  habit  of  working  steadily  and 
keeping  their  attention  on  their  work.  The 
red  crosses  signifying  absence  are  notably 
lessened.  These  men  have  not  only  improved 
in  skill,  but  in  habits  of  industry;  and  the 
gang  boss  Samtak  is  not  their  driver,  but 
their  helper  and  friend.  The  blackening  of 
the  chart  signifies  not  only  that  more  work 
is  done,  but  that  it  is  done  better,  for  hlach 
means  that  both  quantity  and  quality  are  up 
to  the  standard.  There  is  one  man  in  the 
group  whose  history  is  worth  studying, 
namely  the  weaver  Samtak,  brother  of  the 
gang  boss.  Note  that  he  began  on  this  work 
on  September  21,  1908.  He  was  a  good 
weaver  who  had  been  working  in  the  mill  off 
and  on  for  several  years.  His  temper  is  such 
that  he  was  liable  to  leave  on  the  slightest 
pretext,  but  in  a  few  weeks  or  months  he 

*  Chart  III  is  placed  below  Chart  II,  on  the  same 
sheet,  facing  this  page. 


r 


■AK         WeA\'BRS    Joly 


FIXING   HABITS   OF    INDUSTRY  183 

would  come  back  for  a  job,  probably  having 
left  his  new  job  for  some  similar  slight  cause. 

He  would  not  do  task  work  at  first,  al- 
though offered  a  chance,  but  took  hold  when 
he  found  others  profiting  from  it.  The  old 
habit,  however,  of  quitting  on  a  slight  pre- 
text was  still  on  him,  and  he  left  before 
Christmas.  By  the  first  of  the  year  he  was 
back,  but  he  had  lost  his  ability  to  make  his 
bonus,  and  he  spent  nearly  two  weeks  before 
he  earned  it  a  single  time.  Note  also  that  he 
was  absent  three  days  in  the  first  two  weeks. 
Was  he  again  looking  for  another  job?  His 
actions  during  this  time  indicate  an  unsettled 
frame  of  mind.  Again  in  the  latter  part  of 
February  the  wanderlust  came  over  him. 
Early  in  May  he  again  had  a  slight  attack, 
possibly  of  "spring  fever."  Since  that  time 
he  seems  to  be  entirely  cured  of  his  roving 
tendencies.  ^ 

We  knew  this  man  and  understood  his 
moods,  and  we  know  what  kind  of  a  change 
has  taken  place.  Have  not  many  others  been 
influenced  in  the  same  manner? 

In  considering  this  work  an  important  ele- 
ment to  be  noted  is  the  time  needed.  When 
we  began  our  study  in  June,  1908,  we  already 
had  in  operation  means  for  learning  how  long 


184  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

eacli  worker  spent  on  every  job  and  how  mucli 
work  was  done.  There  was  also  in  existence 
a  system  of  laying  out  the  work  from  the 
office.  In  other  words,  the  general  mechan- 
ism of  our  system  was  in  operation  and  work- 
ing smoothly,  yet  it  was  several  months  be- 
fore we  got  enough  task  work  going  to  make 
any  real  show^  If  we  had  attempted  to  in- 
troduce it  much  faster  we  should  have  met 
with  two  difficulties.  First,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  for  us  to  remove  all  the  ob- 
stacles for  a  large  number  of  weavers.  Sec- 
ond, the  poor  weavers  would  probably  have 
persuaded  the  good  ones  not  to  try  to  do  as 
we  wished.  The  best  evidence  of  this  is  that 
Papadimitri,  one  of  the  very  best  weavers, 
declined  to  do  the  work  at  first. 

Time  is  needed  to  overcome  prejudice  and 
to  change  habits.  This  is  a  psychological 
law,  and  its  violation  produces  failure,  just 
as  surely  as  the  violation  of  the  laws  of  phys- 
ics or  chemistry. 

Chart  IV  *  represents  our  progress  in 
training  workers  to  do  their  task  in  winding 
weaving  bobbins — bobbins  of  filling  that  go 
into  the  shuttles.  Each  operative  tends  a 
number  of  spindles,  and  the  work  consists 

*  Chart  IV  is  inserted  between  pages  186  and  187. 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  185 

first  of  taking  out  full  bobbins  and  putting 
empty  ones  in  place ;  second,  removing  empty- 
spools  from  which  the  yarn  has  been  taken, 
and  replacing  them  with  full  spools.  Inas- 
much as  the  machine  runs  at  a  constant 
speed,  the  bobbins  fill  and  the  spools  empty 
more  rapidly  with  coarse  yarn  than  with  fine ; 
hence  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  careful  de- 
tail study  of  the  subject  to  set  a  proper  task 
for  different  sizes  of  yarn.  This  study  took 
about  six  weeks,  and,  having  settled  upon 
proper  tasks,  we  started  a  girl  named  Wag- 
ner on  task  work  early  in  February.  She 
would  not  do  it  at  first  but  stayed  home  for 
a  week.  At  the  end  of  that  time  she  camft 
to  work  willing  to  do  as  we  wished,  and  was 
evidently  surprised  at  the  ease  with  which 
she  succeeded.  On  March  1  we  began  to  keep 
the  charts.  At  that  time  those  doing  the  task 
as  shown  by  the  chart  represented  but  a  small 
proportion  of  the  whole  number  of  workers. 
Our  gang  boss,  McCabe,  received  5  cents  for 
each  worker  that  made  a  bonus  and  10  cents 
each  if  all  made  it.  Our  observer  was  con- 
stantly on  hand,  at  first  to  help  him  remove 
obstacles,  and  to  see  that  the  workers  had 
every  opportunity  to  work  efficiently.  In 
spite  of  this  a  large  proportion  of  the  first 


186  WOEK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

ones  failed  to  earn  tlie  bonus  regularly  and 
gradually  left.  Many  of  these  were  girls  who 
evidently  found  continuous  attention  to  their 
work  irksome,  and,  even  though  they  were 
capable  of  doing  the  work,  preferred  the 
more  free  and  easy  method  to  which  they 
had  been  accustomed.  Others  showed  but 
little  ability  to  do  the  work  or  to  learn.  The 
fact,  however,  which  is  evident  from  the  chart 
— that  the  larger  the  number  of  bonus  work- 
ers in  the  mill,  the  faster  the  new  ones 
learned — is  a  matter  of  great  psychological 
importance.  There  is  in  every  workroom  a 
fashion,  a  habit  of  work,  and  the  new  worker 
follows  that  fashion,  for  it  isn't  respectable 
not  to.  The  man  or  woman  who  ignores  fash- 
ion does  not  get  much  pleasure  from  associ- 
ating with  those  that  follow  it,  and  the  new 
member  consequently  tries  to  fall  in  with  the 
sentiment  of  the  community.  Our  chart 
shows  that  the  stronger  the  sentiment  in 
favor  of  industry  is,  the  harder  the  new  mem- 
ber tries  and  the  sooner  he  succeeds.  We 
must  therefore  make  our  compensation  such 
as  to  encourage  the  habit,  or  fashion,  of  in- 
dustry; and  our  charts  show  to  what  extent 
we  have  succeeded  in  fixing  this  habit. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  although  fail- 


Filling  Winders  pi 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  187 

ures  most  frequently  occurred  on  Monday, 
even  this  habit  could  be  cured. 

The  mill  shut  down  for  about  three  days 
about  July  4  to  take  stock,  and,  as  we  had 
just  gotten  this  room  in  good  shape,  that  little 
vacation  may  be  used  as  a  dividing  line  on 
this  chart.  Remembering  that  solid  black 
indicates  that  the  full  amount  of  work  has 
been  done,  and  that  all  of  it  was  up  to  stand- 
ard for  quality,  while  solid  red  represents 
that  the  work  was  below  standard  either  for 
quantity  or  quality,  and  sometimes  for  both ; 
also  that  the  black  cross  means  the  worker 
was  doing  day  work,  while  the  red  cross 
means  that  the  worker  was  absent,  the 
amount  of  black  on  any  day  is  a  measure  of 
efficiency  for  that  day  and  the  red  is  a  very 
accurate  measure  of  the  amount  of  super- 
vision needed,  for  all  cases  of  failure  to  per- 
form the  task  must  be  investigated,  and  all 
cases  of  absenteeism  should  be  inquired  into. 
The  gradual  change  of  the  chart  from  red  to 
black  means  not  only  that  the  workers  are 
becoming  more  skilful  and  regular  in  their 
habits,  but  that  the  machinery  is  being  kept 
in  better  order,  for  the  task  is  so  set  that 
unless  the  machines  are  in  good  condition  the 
bonus  cannot  be  earned. 


188  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

After  July  4,  not  only  was  the  amount  of 
supervision  needed  diminished  and  a  regular 
output  maintained,  but  the  workmen  were 
much  more  regular  in  attendance.  The  in- 
dications of  the  chart  are  that  the  output  of 
the  room  after  July  4  was  larger,  better  and 
more  uniform.  It  is  now  easy  to  predict  the 
daily  output  and  to  make  promises  of  deliv- 
ery that  will  be  kept  without  special  effort 
on  the  part  of  the  foreman.  Before  July  4 
such  predictions  were  only  estimates,  and  a 
proper  output  was  kept  up  only  by  constant 
supervision.  As  the  gang  boss  in  this  room 
gets  a  bonus  of  5  cents  for  each  worker  who 
earns  a  bonus,  and  10  cents  each  if  all  earn 
bonus,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  the  superinten- 
dent does  not  have  to  worry  much  either 
about  the  quantity  or  quality  of  the  product. 
It  is  easy  to  measure  the  quantity,  and  the 
quality  is  taken  care  of  more  easily  still,  for 
the  weaver  who  gets  poor  bobbins  refuses  to 
use  them. 

By  permission  of  the  treasurer  of  this  mill 
I  am  enabled  to  show  Chart  V  representing 
the  conditions  in  this  room  in  1912,  three 
years  later.  The  preponderance  and  continu- 
ity on  this  chart  of  black  spaces  showing  task 
performed  is  very  marked. 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY 


189 


No. 


Sept. 


Oct. 


Nov. 


1912 


28     28S0       57       12  14     19  2126  28       24        9U16  1B2S 


631 
641 

642 
643 
649 
661 
662 
654 
666 
658 
659 
661 
665 
666 
667 
669 
670 
671 
677 
676 
616 


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CHART    V.      BONUS    RECORD,    THREE    YEARS    LATER,    OF   FILLING 
winders'    DEPARTMENT    SHOWN    IN    CHART    IV 

Chart  VI*  (facing  page  190)  represents 
girls  winding  yarn  on  spools.  Note  that  it 
was  the  fashion  among  these  not  to  try  for 
the  bonus  on  Saturday,  Most  of  them  could 
earn  it  every  day  if  they  chose,  but  there 
was  evidently  a  feeling  against  working  hard 
on  Saturday. 

*  Charts  VI  and  VII,  on  one  sheet,  are  inserted  be- 
tween pages  190  and  191. 


190  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

Note  that  on  March  6  two  girls  tried  to 
break  this  precedent,  but  it  was  too  strong, 
and  on  March  13  all  failed.  On  March  20  an- 
other tried.  On  March  27  one  of  the  first  two 
tried  again,  but  after  that  all  gave  it  up  for 
three  weeks.  Then  our  first  two  evidently 
decided  that  they  would  defy  public  opinion, 
which  they  did  pretty  successfully  until 
June  6,  when  apparently  by  common  consent 
all  "took  it  easy."  After  that,  however,  all 
gradually  fell  into  line  and  the  Saturday  in- 
efficiency disappeared  as  did  the  Monday 
inefficiency  on  Chart  IV. 

Chart  VII  *  represents  girls  inspecting 
cloth  and  mending  slight  defects  in  weaving, 
trimming  ends,  etc.  This  is  high-grade  work 
and  all  defects  must  be  eliminated.  We 
started  the  task  after  careful  study,  and 
while  most  of  the  girls  showed  the  ability  to 
perform  the  task  only  two  did  it  with  any  de- 
gree of  regularity.  On  April  7  three  left  be- 
cause they  were  unwilling  to  maintain  the 
high  standard  of  quality  that  had  been  set. 
The  chart  shows  the  difficulty  of  getting  new 
ones  to  do  the  work.  Fortunately  the  three 
dissatisfied  ones  came  back  for  their  jobs  in  a 
few  days,  and  soon  became  better  than  ever. 

*  Facing  this  page,  on  lower  half  of  sheet. 


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FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  191 

These  inspectors  were  supplied  with  work 
and  had  the  heavy  cloth  handled  for  them  by 
the  three  men  whose  names  are  at  the  top  of 
the  chart.  Each  of  these  men  received  2  cents 
for  each  girl  that  made  a  bonus.  Early  in 
July  it  was  decided  to  give  the  boss  weaver, 
who  has  not  yet  been  mentioned,  a  bonus.  He 
is  an  excellent  man  and  was  undoubtedly  do- 
ing his  work  well,  but  we  felt  that  his  bonus 
should  depend  upon  the  quality  of  the  work 
turned  out.  Inasmuch  as  the  better  the  cloth 
was  when  it  came  from  the  weaving  room,  the 
easier  the  task  of  the  inspectors  would  be,  we 
decided  to  make  his  bonus  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  inspectors  that  earned  theirs. 
The  inspectors  at  once  began  to  earn  bonus 
with  great  regularity,  for  the  boss  weaver 
found  that  the  inspectors  were  only  too  anx- 
ious to  point  out  defects  which  it  was  to  his 
interest  to  have  corrected.  He  visits  the  in- 
specting room  frequently  during  each  day, 
and  by  the  reports  he  gets  keeps  closely  in 
touch  with  what  his  weavers  are  doing.  The 
result  is  a  continuous  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  their  work. 

The  charts  so  far  shown  all  refer  to  the 
same  mill.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  in 
1912  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the  World 


193  WORK,  WAGES,   AND  PROFITS 

made  an  attempt  to  cause  a  strike  in  all  of 
the  mills  in  the  town  where  this  mill  is  situ- 
ated, and  actually  succeeded  in  shutting  down 
some  of  these  mills  for  several  weeks.     In 


Operatives 

Clara  Corrioan 
Frances  UROgan 
Theresa  Liepebt 
Mary  Livset 
F.KcrcHEN 

V.JUVUHA9 


CLATLA  CORRtGAN 

Prances  Grog  an 
Theresa  Liepert 
Mary  brvsEY 
F.KrrcHEN 

If.KALLABAIf 


KEY  BBoous  Earned     ^onusLost     X^ayWork      fS&bsont 

CHAET  VIII.     BONUS  RECORD  OF  GIRLS  WORKING  IN  A  FOLDING 
ROOM 

The   upper   half  shows   eight   weeks  in   1909;     the    lower    half,   the 
corresponding  eight  weeks  in  1910.     Remembering  that  red  means  bonus 
lost  and  black  bonus  earned,  the  improvement  in  twelve  months  becomes 
strikingly  apparent. 

this  mill,  on  which  they  made  a  very  strong 
attack,  they  succeeded  in  drawing  out  only 
sixty  out  of  six  hundred  employes,  and  the 
management  had  no  difficulty  whatever  in 
filling  all  their  places  in  a  few  days. 

Chart  VIII  represents  girls  working  in  the 
folding  room  of  a  bleachery — not  one  of  those 


FIXING  HABITS  OF  INDUSTRY  193 

previously  referred  to — and  is  interesting 
from  the  fact  that  they  belong  to  an  entirely 
different  class  of  people  from  those  in  the 
cotton  mill  (as  can  be  seen  by  their  names), 
and  also  from  the  fact  that  some  of  these 
girls  have  often  as  many  as  ten  or  fifteen 
different  kinds  of  v/ork  per  day.  In  starting 
this  group,  which  is  much  larger  than  the 
number  shown  here,  we  had  exactly  the  same 
experience  as  with  the  weavers  and  the  wind- 
ers; one  of  the  girls  declined  to  do  as  we 
wished  at  first,  and  afterwards  became  one 
of  our  best  workers.  These  three  cases  il- 
lustrate the  fact  that  a  worker  may  hesitate, 
or  even  refuse  to  do  work  by  a  new  method, 
and  still  become  ultimately  a  good  and  loyal 
worker  under  the  new  methods.  The  action 
of  a  workman  when  brought  up  against  a 
new  method  is  largely  influenced  by  his  tem- 
perament, or  the  opinions  of  his  friends. 
When,  however,  this  method  has  been  estab- 
lished, all  the  evidence  available  goes  to  show 
that  these  results  are  not  only  permanent, 
but  that  the  workers  become  more  proficient 
and  the  product  better.  This  chart  shows  the 
improvement  after  a  year's  training.  We 
began  the  task  and  bonus  in  November,  1908. 
The  upper  section  of  the  chart  shows  how  the 


194  WORK,   WAGES,   AND  PROFITS 

girls  worked  about  the  time  the  system  got 
well  started.  The  lower  section  is  a  record 
of  the  same  girls  a  year  later. 

Directing  attention  once  more  to  Chart 
VIII,  it  will  be  noted  that  the  date  is  1909. 
The  work  was  begun  some  time  in  the  fall  of 
1908.  In  January,  1912,  the  conditions  were 
as  follows : — 

Three  of  these  girls  w^ere  still  working  on 
the  same  job,  on  bonus.  One  of  the  three 
had  left  for  a  few  weeks  in  the  meantime, 
but  came  back  again.  One  girl  had  been 
promoted  to  a  better  job.  One  girl  had  been 
transferred  to  other  work  and  had  subse- 
quently left.  The  sixth  girl  was  working  in 
January,  1912,  but  left  before  the  end  of  the 
month. 

Charts  IX  and  X  represent  girls  at  w^ork 
in  a  worsted  mill.  The  best  workers 
were  put  on  bonus  work  first.  Note  their 
improvement.  It  was  nearly  three  months 
before  we  got  all  on  this  work.  Note  how 
the  poorer  ones  failed  at  first,  also  how  on 
the  last  day  shown  on  the  chart  all  of  the 
poorer  workers  earned  bonus.  During  the 
period  from  April  15  to  July  10,  161  girls 
had  been  put  on  bonus  work,  and  21  out  of 
this  number  had  for  one  reason  or  other  left 


BONUS    RECORD 


Gray  Worsted  Barling 


c 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  195 

the  employ  of  the  company.     The  reasons 
were  as  follows : — 

4  girls — left ;  poor  health  or  dissatisfied 
1  girl — married 

1  girl — entered  convent 

1  girl — work  at  mountains  for  summer 

5  girls — left  town;  gone  home  to  Canada, 

Michigan  and  New  York 
9  girls — discharged 


21 


One  of  the  obstacles,  which  by  the  way  we 
nearly  always  encounter,  was  prominent  in 
this  case.  Certain  people  in  authority  hav- 
ing once  expressed  themselves  as  not  approv- 
ing of  our  methods,  felt  it  their  duty  to  op- 
pose their  introduction  to  as  great  an  extent 
as  possible,  and  to  use  all  possible  arguments 
against  the  work.  Their  original  arguments 
failed.  The  argument  that  we  were  over- 
working the  girls  was  then  advanced,  and 
they  insisted  on  being  allowed  to  put  on 
piece  work  some  of  this  work  which  was  in 
another  building,  and  which  had  not  yet  been 
put  on  the  task  and  bonus  system.  Accord- 
ingly,   on   June    19    their   piece    work    was 


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FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  197 

started.  On  July  11,  the  date  of  this  report, 
nineteen  out  of  a  total  of  fifty-three  girls  in 
this  building  had  left.  In  other  words,  al- 
most one-third  of  the  girls  who  were  put  on 
piece  work,  according  to  the  request  of  the 
man  ''who  had  their  interests  most  at  heart," 
left  in  three  weeks !  In  the  case  of  our  bonus 
workers,  approximately  one-eighth  of  the 
girls  left  in  fifteen  weeks. 

Which  system  was  most  considerate  of  the 
workers  may  well  be  left  to  the  reader's 
judgment. 

Chart  XI  represents  weavers  in  a  cotton 
mill.  Each  weaver  is  running  twelve  looms, 
and  gets  a  bonus  for  each  loom  which  does  all 
the  work  it  should  do  on  any  given  day,  and 
an  additional  bonus  if  all  his  looms  do  the 
full  allotted  amount.  The  number  in  the 
space  represents  the  number  of  looms  on 
which  the  bonus  is  earned.  Red  is  used  to 
call  attention  to  the  smaller  numbers.  The 
black  spot  indicates  that  all  the  looms  earned 
bonus. 

On  this  job  bonus  work  was  started  really 
before  we  were  ready  for  it,  but  inasmuch 
as  the  management  was  very  anxious  to  get 
some  bonus  work  under  way  we  felt  it  neces- 
sary to  do  what  was  possible  to  conform  to 


198  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

their  wishes,  knowing,  however,  that  the  work 
would  necessarily  go  very  slowly. 

It  will  be  noted  that  several  w^eeks  elapsed 
after  putting  the  first  w^eaver  on  bonus  before 
any  others  w^ere  put  on.  This  delay  was 
necessitated  by  the  fact  that  the  failure  of 
the  man  to  make  bonus  w^as  not  always  his 
fault,  but  was  due  to  conditions  over  w^hich 
he  had  no  control,  and  it  took  some  time  to 
eliminate  these  conditions  as  far  as  he  was 
concerned. 

Somewhat  more  rapid  progress  was  made 
later  in  putting  other  workers  on  bonus,  and 
for  a  while  things  w^ent  very  w^ell.  The  chart 
show^s,  however,  that  w^e  soon  attempted  to 
go  too  fast,  for  not  only  did  those  weavers 
who  had  previously  been  making  bonus  on 
all  looms  fail  to  accomplish  this  result,  but 
some  of  the  weavers  (new^er  ones)  failed  to 
make  bonus  on  any.  These  facts  emphasize 
the  importance  of  going  slowdy  and  bending 
all  our  efforts  to  getting  conditions  right  be- 
fore we  make  any  attempt  to  increase  the 
number  of  people  on  bonus.  When  it  is 
realized  that  each  of  these  weavers  was 
handling  twelve  looms,  it  will  be  seen  that  w^e 
already  had  quite  a  proposition  on  our  hands. 
Inasmuch,  however,  as  the  weavers  were  get- 


FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTRY  199 

ting  a  fair  day's  pay,  they  showed  patience 
and  gave  ns  all  the  assistance  they  could  in 
our  attempt  to  make  things  go  right,  with  the 
result  that  in  a  few  weeks  things  were  on  a 
satisfactory  basis  again. 

This  work  was  being  done  during  the  Law- 
rence strike,  and  the  Industrial  Workers  of 
the  World  had  their  agents  around  doing 
what  they  could  to  stir  up  dissatisfaction 
among  the  employees,  using,  of  course,  any 
influence  they  could  against  this  work.  In 
another  room  in  the  same  mill  work  simi- 
lar to  this  was  being  done  in  almost  identi- 
cally the  same  way,  when  a  strike  took  place 
in  that  room,  probably  stimulated  by  the  In- 
dustrial Workers  of  the  World.  We  had 
extended  our  system  to  about  half  the  people 
in  the  room  at  this  time,  and,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  our  workers  were  not  the  ones 
that  went  out  on  the  strike — all  of  our  people 
not  only  stayed  on  their  jobs,  but  brought  in 
their  friends  to  take  the  place  of  the  strikers. 
In  another  textile  mill  nearly  all  the  em- 
ployees went  on  a  strike  in  1905;  almost  the 
only  ones  who  remained  loyal  were  those 
working  on  our  system. 

Chart  XII  represents  girls  making  sheets 
and  pillow  cases.    The  work  of  starting  the 


200  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

task  and  bonus  was  done  by  a  man  who  had 
been  connected  with  me,  but  who  was  doing 
this  on  his  own  responsibility.  I  was  not  per- 
sonally in  touch  with  this  work  when  it  was 
done.  First,  note  should  be  made  of  the  fact 
that  the  factory  was  shut  down  on  a  number 
of  days — November  28  (evidently  Thanks- 
giving Day),  Christmas  Day,  and  all  Wed- 
nesdays and  Saturdays  for  the  next  two 
weeks.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  work  started 
off  very  well,  but  the  rush  to  get  people  on 
bonus  on  November  30  evidently  upset  things, 
for  immediately  we  find  a  number  of  workers 
back  on  day  work.  This  was  probably  due 
to  the  inability  of  the  task  setter  to  set  tasks 
on  new  work  fast  enough.  Note  again  that 
just  before  Christmas  week  the  same  condi- 
tion obtained,  and  after  Christmas  there  was 
not  enough  work  to  keep  the  factory  running 
full.  However,  by  the  middle  of  January 
those  that  had  bonus  work  were  beginning  to 
earn  their  bonus  pretty  regularly,  and  by 
February  10  the  number  of  workers  was 
just  about  large  enough  for  each  to  be  sup- 
plied with  a  full  amount  of  work.  From  that 
time  on  the  work  went  smoothly. 

This  chart  is  presented  to  show  how  easy 
it  is  to  get  into  trouble  by  putting  people  on 


Operator  No. 

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FIXING   HABITS   OF   INDUSTEY  201 

bonus  work  too  fast.  The  management  has 
its  part  to  play  in  supplying  work  and  train- 
ing workers,  and  it  is  perfectly  evident  in 
this  chart  that  the  trouble  was  not  with  the 
workers,  but  with  lack  of  proper  balance  in 
the  managing  department.  This,  however,  is 
not  at  all  surprising,  for  when  the  man  re- 
sponsible for  the  output  finds  the  advantage 
he  can  obtain  by  the  task  and  bonus  system, 
he  almost  invariably  insists  on  putting  as 
many  people  on  bonus  as  possible,  with  the 
result  that  he  finds  he  cannot  supply  all  the 
workers  properly  and  that  numbers  of  them 
have  to  be  put  back  on  day  work. 

It  may  be  asked  why  the  task-setter  does 
not  explain  this  to  the  superintendent,  and 
make  it  clear  that  that  is  the  wrong  way  to 
do.  I  can  say  only  that  no  amount  of  ex- 
planation on  my  part,  or  that  of  my  repre- 
sentatives, seems  to  have  much  effect,  and 
we  have  about  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  best  way  to  do  is  to  let  managers  make 
their  mistakes  and  find  them  out;  then  the 
question  is  settled  once  and  for  all  time. 

Chart  XIII  is  a  particularly  interesting 
one,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  most  recent — the 
development  is  still  going  on.  I  am  permit- 
ted to  exhibit  this  by  the  manager's  courtesy. 


302  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

It  will  be  seen  that  here  also  the  work 
started  off  very  well,  and  until  we  began  to 
push  it  too  fast  everything  went  all  right. 
When,  however,  the  desire  to  get  an  in- 
creased output  overcame  the  conservatism 
with  which  it  is  necessary  to  establish  a  new 
method,  those  workers  who  were  last  put  on 
influenced  the  others  not  to  perform  the  task, 
and  on  one  day  nobody  made  bonus.  One 
girl,  however,  felt  that  she  needed  the  money 
and  continued  on  with  the  work.  The  others 
showed  their  hostility  toward  her  in  a  num- 
ber of  ways,  but  she  still  persisted.  After 
they  had  ceased  to  try  to  do  the  work  for 
three  or  four  days,  several  of  the  girls  sent 
in  their  notice  that  they  were  going  to  quit. 
They  were  evidently  trying  to  raise  an  issue, 
but  inasmuch  as  the  management  ignored  the 
issue,  and  went  about  its  business  of  getting 
conditions  so  perfect  that  the  workers  could 
have  no  cause  whatever  for  not  trying  to  earn 
their  bonus,  they  were  unable  to  get  the  issue 
accepted.  It  will  be  noted  how  at  the  end  of 
eight  days  some  of  the  girls  became  willing 
to  try  again,  and  from  that  time  on  the  num- 
ber increased,  and  soon  the  number  of  appli- 
cations from  other  girls  to  work  on  task  and 
bonus  became  so  great  that  we  were  unable 


FIXING   HABITS   OF    INDUSTRY  203 

for  some  time  to  provide  proper  conditions 
and  to  set  tasks  for  them  fast  enough. 

CO-OPERATION 

A  careful  analysis  will  show  that  we  have 
established  a  system  of  co-operation,  in  which 
it  is  to  the  interest  of  each  bonus  worker  to 
do  as  much  work  as  he  can,  and  to  do  it  as 
well  as  possible.  Further,  if  a  workman  does 
poor  work,  others  suffer  beside  himself,  with 
the  result  that  he  either  learns  to  do  good 
work  or  finds  work  elsewhere.  As  it  is  to 
the  interest  of  the  worker  to  do  good  work, 
and  plenty  of  it,  he  contracts  the  habit  -of 
doing  a  large  amount  of  good  work.  As  long 
as  it  is  to  his  financial  interest  he  will  con- 
tinue to  cultivate  this  habit. 

Taking  all  of  these  charts  together  we  note 
the  following:  That  the  amount  of  super- 
vision needed  has  diminished ;  that  the  qual- 
ity of  the  work  is  better ;  that  the  quantity  is 
greater;  that  the  amount  being  turned  out 
can  be  predicted  accurately,  and  hence  prom- 
ises need  no  longer  be  guesses,  but  can  be 
made  and  kept ;  that  the  workers  are  not  only 
earning  more  money,  but  are  acquiring  bet- 
ter habits  of  work  which  will  make  them  bet- 
ter citizens. 


RESULTS 


Chapter  X 

EESULTS 

A  FTER  seeing  the  charts  in  the  preceding 
-^^  chapter,  the  question  naturally  arises 
as  to  the  ratio  between  the  amount  which  is 
being  accomplished  now  and  what  was  ac- 
complished previous  to  the  beginning  of  this 
work. 

In  order  to  make  these  comparisons  clear 
we  devised  a  few  years  ago  what  we  have 
called  a  "Percentage  Chart,"  which  com- 
pares all  results  with  the  conditions  existing 
before  the  work  was  started.  For  instance, 
the  standard  production  was  called  100  per 
cent.  Our  new  production  may  be  two,  three 
or  four  times  that  amount.  The  wages  which 
were  being  paid  before  the  work  was  started 
were  also  rated  at  100  per  cent.  The  new 
wages  w^ould  be  an  increase  over  the  old 
standard,  usually  of  30  to  50  per  cent,  and 
the  wage  cost  measured  in  the  same  manner 
would  be  distinctly  below  the  previous  wage 
cost. 
Chart  XIV  is  a  chart  of  this  chara^jter  and 
207 


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RESULTS  209 

shows  these  ratios  with  regard  to  some  work 
done  several  years  ago  in  a  bleachery  in 
Ehode  Island.  Each  of  the  vertical  lines  rep- 
resents a  different  kind  of  work.  It  will  be 
noted  that  the  various  kinds  are  represented 
by  the  names  at  the  top  of  these  lines.  The 
horizontal  black  lines  marked  "100  per  cent" 
represent  the  amount  of  work  which  was 
done  on  each  of  these  operations  previous  to 
our  investigations.  The  upper  lines  repre- 
sent the  amount  of  work  now  being  done, 
compared  with  what  was  previously  done. 
The  heavy  black  line  marked  "100  per  cent" 
also  represents  the  wages  previously  paid, 
and  the  dotted  lines  above  it  represent  wages 
now  paid.  The  100  per  cent  line  also  repre- 
sents the  previous  wage  cost.  The  dotted  line 
below  represents  the  present  wage  cost. 
Note  that  the  increase  in  product  is  about 
200  per  cent,  and  the  decrease  in  wage  cost 
is  approximately  40  per  cent,  while  the  in- 
crease in  wages  is  also  40  per  cent.  Bear 
in  mind  that  this  increase  in  product  is  due 
not  solely  to  the  work  of  the  operative,  but 
is  much  helped  by  more  careful  study  and 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  management. 
It  should  be  noted  that  this  chart  repre- 
sents four  different  classes  of  work,  all  of 


210  WORK;,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

which  illustrate  the  effect  of  the  task  and 
bonus.  In  the  last  three  cases  the  average 
output  is  in  each  instance  more  than  double, 
and  in  one,  the  manufacture  of  pillow  cases, 
more  than  three  times  as  great. 

The  increase  in  the  case  of  the  pillow-case 
factory  was  so  great  as  to  make  some  suspect 
that  the  work  must  have  been  done  very  in- 
efficiently before.  This  was  undoubtedly 
true,  but  probably  not  more  inefficiently  than 
in  many  shops  run  by  a  foreman  who  has  no 
special  training  as  an  executive,  and  of  whom 
much  more  is  expected  than  he  could  possibly 
do  efficiently. 

But  this  is  not  all;  a  fortunate  set  of  con- 
ditions enabled  us  to  get  a  measure  of  the 
improvement  in  quality  which  had  been  ob- 
tained. Soon  after  the  reorganization  of  the 
pillow-case  factor}^  represented  in  Figure  4 
on  this  chart  got  well  under  way,  there  was 
a  serious  complaint  of  bad  work  from  one 
of  the  largest  customers.  An  investigation 
proved  that  the  complaint  was  well  founded, 
and  the  customer  was  asked  to  return  all  the 
goods. 

About  fifty  cases  of  goods  were  returned, 
and  of  course  the  bad  work  was  all  blamed 
on  the  new  system.     The  inspection  of  the 


RESULTS  211 

first  few  cases  proved  that  the  number  of 
imperfections  per  case  varied  greatly,  and 
it  was  decided  to  keep  an  exact  record  of 
what  the  imperfections  in  each  case  were, 
and  whether  the  work  was  done  before  or 
after  the  installation  of  the  task  and  bonus 
system.  The  result  was  as  follows:  In 
twenty-eight  cases  of  goods  done  before  task 
work  was  started,  the  average  number  of  im- 
perfections per  case  was  47 1^.  In  two  cases 
done  after  the  task  work  was  started,  but  be- 
fore the  inspection  was  going  properly,  the 
average  number  of  imperfections  per  case 
was  2.  In  eleven  cases  done  under  the  task 
and  bonus  system,  after  the  inspection  was 
going  properly,  the  number  of  imperfections 
per  case  was  less  than  one. 

Eepresenting  by  unity  in  Figure  4  the 
number  of  imperfections  per  case  before  the 
task  and  bonus  system  was  started,  the  short 
line  represents  the  number  afterward — less 
than  2  per  cent. 

This  improvement  in  quality  also  points  to 
the  fact  that  the  pillow-case  factory  was 
badly  run ;  the  interesting  fact  is  that  it  was 
possible  to  make  such  a  great  improvement 
in  a  few  weeks. 

The  next  question  that  naturally  comes  to 


212  WORK^    WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

one 's  mind  is  that  of  the  permanence  of  these 
results.  On  this  subject  we  have  some  data 
also. 

In  1904  we  began  the  reorganization  of  a 
packing-box  factory,  which  made  five  or  six 
hundred  cases  per  day  and  was  run  in  con- 
nection with  two  large  bleacheries  of  cotton 
cloth.  This  factory  had  been  a  sore  spot,  and 
whenever  shipments  were  delayed  the  box 
factory  came  in  for  its  share  of  the  blame. 
It  took  nearly  a  year  to  get  this  factory  into 
shape,  but  for  the  past  nine  years  it  has  run 
so  smoothly  that  the  manager  of  the  bleach- 
ery  has  hardly  been  aware  of  its  existence. 
In  1912  this  factory  was  running  substan- 
tially as  organized  in  1904,  with  most  of  the 
original  bonus  workers  still  there. 

The  organization  of  one  of  the  bleacheries 
referred  to  was  practically  completed  on 
these  lines  in  1907,  and  is  running  today 
better  than  it  did  then.  The  management  of 
the  other  bleachery  has  been  gradually  re- 
modeled on  the  same  lines. 

The  management  of  the  pad-ayeing  depart- 
ment of  a  large  dye  works  has  been  remod- 
eled on  these  lines,  with  the  result  of  prac- 
tically doubling  the  output  and  distinctly 
improving  the  quality.     The  workmen  are 


RESULTS 


213 


getting  mucli  better  wages,  and  the  costs  are 
decidedly  lower.  This  department  has  been 
running  on  these  lines  since  1909,  and  is  run- 
ning much  better  today  than  at  any  time  yet. 


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CHAilT  XV.      WAGES   AND  PRODUCTION  DIAGRAM  ON   SMALL 
AUTOMATIC    SCREW-MACHINE   WORK 

No  better  testimonial  both  to  the  quality  of 
the  work  done  and  the  economy  with  which 
it  is  being  done  can  be  had  than  the  fact  that, 
notwithstanding  the  increased  output  per  ma- 
chine, they  have  been  obliged  to  add  other 
machines  to  the  dye  works  to  take  care  of 
the  business  offered,  until  they  were  doing 
in  this  department  in  1910  nearly  three  times 
what  they  did  in  1908. 

Chart  XV  represents  similar  results  for 
work  on  small  automatic  screw-machines.  In 
this  case  the  light  line  represents  the  task, 


JOBS 


CHART    XVI.      WAGES     AND    PRODUCTION     DIAGRAM     ON     LARGE 
AUTOMATIC   MACHINE  WORK 


214 


RESULTS  215 

the  upper  heavy  line  representing  the  amount 
of  work  done.  The  upper  dashed  line  repre- 
sents the  wages  now  being  received,  and  the 
lower  dashed  line  represents  the  new  wage 
cost.  In  this  particular  case  the  shop  was 
very  well  run  before  we  undertook  to  study 
the  work,  and  the  workmen  were  getting  very 
good  wages.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  increase 
in  production  is  not  quite  so  high  as  in  the 
former  chart,  nor  is  the  increase  in  wages 
quite  so  great. 

Chart  XVI  shows  similar  results  for  large 
automatic  machines. 

Chart  XVII  represents  the  same  change 
for  miscellaneous  machine-work  in  a  plant 
manufacturing  a  small  article  in  quantities. 

Comparing  all  four  of  these  charts,  it  will 
be  evident  that  there  is  a  very  striking  simi- 
larity whether  we  are  doing  hand  work  in  a 
bleachery,  or  automatic  lathe  work  in  a  ma- 
chine shop.  If  the  management  assumes  its 
share  of  responsibility  in  preparing  the 
work,  in  seeing  that  the  machines  are  in 
proper  condition,  and  in  training  the  work- 
men, we  can  get  from  two  to  three  times  as 
much  work  done  as  is  usually  done,  pay  20 
to  50  per  cent  increase  in  wages,  and  still 
save  about  40  per  cent  in  wage  cost. 


216  WORK^   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

Of  course  it  will  be  realized  that  this  in- 
crease in  output  brings  down  the  overhead 
expense  on  every  unit  of  product,  so  that  the 
decrease  in  wage  cost  is  not  the  only  impor- 
tant item.  Indeed,  it  is  not  even  the  most  im- 
portant. Unless  the  total  overhead  expense 
is  markedly  increased  when  the  product  is 
increased,  this  expense  per  unit  of  product 
comes  down  substantially  in  inverse  ratio  to 
the  amount  by  which  the  product  goes  up. 
The  reduction  in  cost  from  this  source  is 
usually  markedly  greater  in  dollars  and  cents 
than  the  reduction  in  wage  cost.  This  side 
of  the  cost  question  has  usually  been  given 
too  little  consideration.  Mr.  Andrew  Carne- 
gie was  among  the  first  men  in  the  United 
States  to  recognize  the  great  value  of  getting 
a  larger  product  from  his  plants,  and  this 
fact,  perhaps  more  than  any  other,  gave  him 
the  mastery  of  the  steel  business.  Many 
times  we  can  afford  to  pay  even  a  higher 
wage  per  piece  if  thereby  we  can  reduce  this 
overhead  expense.  In  general,  however,  a 
thorough  study  of  the  work  enables  us  to 
reduce  both  wage  cost  and  overhead  expense 
per  unit  of  product,  at  the  same  time  sub- 
stantially increasing  the  earnings  of  the 
workman. 


RESULTS 


317 


On  Chart  XVII  some  reader  may  note  at 
once  the  discrepancy  between  the  task  set 
and  the  amount  of  work  performed  in  cer- 
tain cases,  showing  that  the  workman  did  a 
great  deal  more   than  it  was   expected  he 


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MISCELLANEOUS  MACHINE  WOKK    JOBS 


CHART    XVII.       WAGES    AND    PRODUCTION    DIAGRAM    ON 
SMALL  MISCELLANEOUS    MACHINE   WORK 


218  WOEK^   WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

would  do.  It  may  be  asked,  naturally,  how 
we  could  overcome  this  difficulty,  for  many 
people  feel  at  once  that  a  serious  mistake 
has  been  made  and  that  the  tasks  should  be 
increased  or  the  rates  reduced. 

In  reply  to  this  I  have  to  say  that  these 
tasks  were  set  by  a  task-setter  who  had  not 
had  sufficient  experience  and  that  he  has 
much  improved  since  the  setting  of  these 
tasks.  We,  however,  do  not  consider  that 
because  he  has  made  an  error  it  is  neces- 
sary to  change  the  rates.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  rather  prefer  that  there  should  be 
a  few  easy  tasks  so  that  the  workmen  may 
have  a  practical  demonstration  of  the  fact 
that  we  are  not  going  to  cut  rates  and  that 
they  need  have  no  fear  whatever  if  they  do 
all  the  work  they  can  and  earn  all  the  money 
possible. 

After  seeing  these  charts  the  comment  of 
some,  at  least  of  those  who  study  them,  will 
be  that  these  shops  must  certainly  have  been 
run  very  badly  before.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
that  is  not  so.  While  some  perhaps  were  not 
in  the  class  of  well-run  shops,  others  were 
not  only  in  this  class,  but  high  up  in  the  class. 
Before  the  introduction  of  these  methods  the 
results  that  were  achieved  were  due  to  the 


RESULTS  219 

effort  the  workman  put  into  his  work,  with 
practically  but  little  direct  assistance  from 
those  over  him.  After  the  methods  were  in- 
stalled he  was  taught  the  best  way  of  doing 
the  work  that  we  could  devise,  offered  a  sub- 
stantial reward  for  accomplishing  the  desired 
results  in  the  manner  in  which  he  had  been 
taught,  and  the  conditions  under  which  he 
was  working  were  so  modified  that  these  re- 
sults could  be  accomplished  if  the  worker 
were  properly  trained.  In  other  words,  these 
results  are  not  accomplished  hy  the  work- 
man alone  and  unaided.  He  must  have  the 
thorough  co-operation  of  a  strong  manage- 
ment. 

Another  criticism  may  be  that  this  applies 
to  what  might  be  called  direct  labor,  and  that 
no  account  is  taken  of  the  indirect  labor,  such 
as  transportation,  clerical  work,  etc. 

In  reply  to  this  criticism  I  reply  that 
we  find,  as  a  rule,  that  there  has  been  even 
less  attention  given  to  the  proper  study  and 
planning  of  indirect  labor,  and  that  the 
chance  for  improvement  in  that  line  is  quite 
as  great  as,  if  not  greater  than,  in  the  line 
of  direct  labor.  The  clerical  work  is  fre- 
quently the  most  inefficient  of  all  in  the  fac- 
tory. 


220  WORK,   WAGES,   AND  PROFITS 

My  object  in  presenting  so  many  charts  il- 
lustrating the  same  thing  is  to  show  to  as 
great  an  extent  as  possible  that  the  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  this  discussion  are  of 
wide  application,  and  that  in  all  cases  sub- 
stantial results  may  be  expected,  if  these 
principles  are  properly  carried  out. 

The  essential  point  in  carrying  out  these 
ideas  properly  is  that  they  should  be  under- 
stood and  thoroughly  appreciated  by  the 
people  who  undertake  their  application.  The 
results  showTi  cannot  be  accomplished  unless 
we  have  harmonious  co-operation  between 
employer  and  employee,  which  is  impossible 
under  any  form  of  management  that  as- 
sumes that  the  responsibility  of  the  manager 
has  ended  when  he  has  issued  his  orders  to 
the  shop. 

To  my  mind,  the  training  of  workmen  to 
fill  all  the  different  positions  in  a  factory  is 
one  of  the  important  functions  of  the  man- 
agement, and  we  all  know  that  training  is 
slow  and  expensive ;  but  it  is  the  only  method 
which  holds  out  any  hope  of  producing  even 
a  partial  solution  of  our  present  industrial 
problems. 

While  this  discussion  is  of  importance  to 
the  man  considering  the  adoption  of  these 


RESULTS  221 

methods,  the  most  important  fact  for  people 
in  general  is  that  our  immigrants  as  well  as 
our  native  people  can  be  trained  to  habits  of 
industry  and  made  efficient,  and  that  a 
scheme  of  co-operation  can  be  devised  that 
is  beneficial  alike  to  employer  and  employee. 
Further,  it  is  of  importance  that  when  once 
in  operation  these  methods  are  continued  and 
perfected  by  the  workers  themselves. 

If  these  methods  were  introduced  exten- 
sively, it  is  without  question  that  the  habit 
of  the  shop  would  influence  that  of  the  com- 
munity, and  there  would  be  a  general  in- 
crease in  efficiency.  The  habits  a  man  has  to 
acquire  to  become  efficient  in  one  class  of 
work  stand  him  in  good  stead  in  becoming 
efficient  in  other  work.  These  habits  of  work 
are  vastly  more  important  than  the  work 
itself,  for  it  is  our  experience  that  a  man  who 
has  become  efficient  in  one  thing  readily 
learns  to  become  efficient  at  doing  other 
things.  The  ability  of  such  people  to  pro- 
duce wealth  is  more  to  the  country  than  the 
wealth  itself.  The  productive  power  is  more 
valuable  than  the  product.  Many  of  the 
workers  represented  on  our  charts  are  im- 
migrants who  cannot  speak  English,  yet  in  a 
few  months  at  most  they  become  far  more 


222  WOEK^    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

efficient  than  the  average  mill  operative,  who 
professes  to  be  skilled. 

It  must  be  emphasized,  however,  that  this 
training  was  done  only  by  the  very  best 
workers  under  the  direction  of  good  teachers, 
that  the  individual  was  given  the  personal 
attention,  day  after  day,  of  the  teacher  and 
the  expert  workman,  and  that  he  was  assured 
of  good  compensation  if  he  succeeded.  We 
concentrate  on  the  individual,  but  when  a 
few  have  learned,  and  are  being  benefited, 
others  are  not  slow  to  imitate.  One  cannot 
learn  to  do  this  work  by  reading- magazine 
articles ;  it  must  be  learned  in  the  shop  where 
an  educated  man  studies  the  work  and  the 
workmen.  When  he  has  become  familiar 
with  both  work  and  workmen  he  can  make 
a  start,  but  to  try  to  do  much  without  this 
kind  of  practical  experience  is  about  as  futile 
as  trying  to  learn  to  skate  through  a  corre- 
spondence school. 

To  succeed  in  this  work  the  teacher  must 
have  the  ability  to  analyze  and  investigate, 
and  must  himself  be  trained  in  such  habits 
of  industry  and  concentration  as  to  enable 
him  to  become  master  of  his  subject. 

In  his  inaugural  address,  President  Low- 
ell, of  Harvard  University,  emphasized  the 


RESULTS  223 

importance  of  hard  and  accnrate  thought  in 
the  following  words : 

"The  student  ought  to  be  trained  to  hard 
and  accurate  thought,  and  this  will  not  come 
from  surveying  the  principles  of  many  sub- 
jects. It  requires  a  mastery  of  something 
acquired  by  continuous  application." 

If  we  substitute  for  "hard  and  accurate 
thought,"  hard  and  accurate  work,  his  re- 
marks are  just  as  true  when  applied  to  the 
workman  as  to  the  student.  The  workman 
who  has  become  master  of  something  takes 
pride  in  his  work  and  soon  distinctly  im- 
proves in  personal  appearance.  The  im- 
provement is  so  universal  and  so  marked 
as  to  be  always  distinctly  recognizable,  and 
is  much  more  than  can  be  accounted  for  by 
the  increase  in  wages  which  enables  him  to 
dress  better. 

This  improvement  is  even  more  marked  in 
girls  than  in  men,  for  the  girls  invariably  ac- 
quire a  better  color  and  improve  in  health. 
In  one  case  the  girl  bonus  workers  formed  a 
society  and  adopted  a  badge  which  they  all 
wore.  Only  those  who  could  earn  their 
bonus  were  eligible.  This  incident  is  a  little 
thing  in  itself,  but  it  shows  the  feeling  that 
comes  with  mastery  of  some  subject.     They 


224:  WOEK^   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

know  what  they  can  do  and  are  proud  of  it. 
This  consciousness  of  efficiency,  this  knowl- 
edge that  they  have  succeeded  and  can  do  it 
again,  puts  the  worker  in  a  very  different 
class  from  those  who  go  along  day  after  day 
watching  the  clock  and  doing  just  enough 
not  to  get  discharged. 

The  task  gives  the  worker  a  definite  object 
to  strive  for,  causes  a  certain  amount  of 
mental  exhilaration,  and  invariably  increases 
the  keenness  of  the  perceptions. 

From  our  task  workers  we  frequently  get 
instructors  and  sometimes  investigators. 
From  our  investigators  and  instructors  we 
get  an  ample  supply  of  superintendents  and 
foremen.  The  foremen  and  superintendents 
trained  under  this  system  have  proved  far 
more  successful  than  any  it  was  possible  to 
hire. 


PEICES  AND   PROFITS 


Chapter  XI 
PEICES   AND   PROFITS 

ABOUT  1890  the  financiers  of  the  United 
States  discovered  a  new  and  seemingly 
a  very  important  principle.  They  realized 
that,  in  many  cases,  at  least,  the  larger  fac- 
tories were  making  a  larger  percentage  of 
profit  than  small  ones,  and  conceived  the  idea 
of  uniting  the  small  ones  under  one  system 
of  management.  By  this  move,  they  cer- 
tainly did  give  the  small  factories  a  better 
financial  standing,  at  the  same  time  reducing 
what  might  be  called  the  financial  or  business 
expense. 

By  this  they  also  reduced  competition  and 
decreased  the  cost  of  selling,  which  has  al- 
ways been  a  large  element  of  expense.  Un- 
der these  conditions,  business  prospered 
rapidly,  for  there  was,  in  many  cases,  un- 
doubtedly a  reduction  in  cost.  The  illus- 
trated magazines  were  filled  with  the  pic- 
tures of  the  captains  of  industry  who  had 
engineered  these  combinations,  and  it  was 
freely  predicted  that  the  economies  to  be  ob- 
237 


228  WORK^   WAGES,  AND  PROFITS 

tained  were  so  great  that  it  would  only  be  a 
question  of  time  before  Europe  would  be 
flooded  with  American  goods. 

Magazine  articles  of  this  character  were 
extremely  popular  for  three  or  four  years, 
and  the  formation  of  consolidations  or  trusts 
in  manufacturing,  and  of  great  systems  in 
railroading,  went  on  at  a  rapid  rate.  The 
economies  that  had  been  produced  by  these 
methods,  together  with  the  fact  that,  with 
the  elimination  of  competition,  the  selling 
price  had  been  upheld,  enabled  many  such 
combinations  to  pay  dividends  on  stock 
which  had  originally  represented  little  or  no 
value. 

The  unprecedented  jorosperity  that  fol- 
lowed the  introduction  of  these  methods  was 
undoubtedly  caused  in  a  large  measure  by 
them,  and  the  financier  was  justly  regarded 
as  having  done  much  to  promote  the  pros- 
perity of  the  country.  Our  internal  trade 
grew  at  an  astounding  rate,  but  the  Amer- 
ican invasion  of  Europe  did  not  materialize ; 
and  it  was  not  very  long  before  we  began  to 
hear  complaints  of  the  increasing  inefficiency 
of  labor.  Wages  began  to  rise,  but  the  out- 
put of  the  workmen  did  not  rise  correspond- 
ingly.    The   financier  had  undoubtedly  ef- 


PRICES   AND   PROFITS  229 

fected  economies  on  those  portions  of  busi- 
ness directly  under  his  control,  but  had  not 
succeeded  equally  in  those  with  which  he  did 
not  come  in  direct  contact. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  while  the  financier  had 
been  forming  his  great  combinations  of 
manufacturing  interests  and  railroads,  with 
the  effect,  at  least,  as  far  as  the  public  is 
concerned,  of  upholding  prices,  the  workmen 
had  gone  him  one  better.  By  their  Unions 
not  only  have  they  upheld  the  price  of  their 
labor,  but  in  many  cases  markedly  increased 
it,  without  rendering  any  more  service  than 
formerly ;  the  employers,  in  many  cases,  say 
less. 

Under  these  conditions,  the  projected  in- 
vasion of  Europe  seems  to  be  postponed  in- 
definitely, and  the  continually  increasing  cost 
of  living  in  this  country  seems  to  indicate 
that  we  need  something  more  than  able  finan- 
ciering to  round  out  our  theory  of  industrial 
economy.  While  this  fact  is  recognized  by 
all,  it  is  not  so  easy  to  specify  exactly  what 
is  wrong  and  how  it  is  to  be  corrected.  Co- 
operation among  employers  to  uphold  the 
price  of  their  product  has  been  so  successful 
that  it  is  scarcely  to  be  wondered  at  that 
the  workmen  should  adopt  the  same  tactics. 


230  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

On  this  subject  Adam  Smith,  in  his  famous 
book  on  **An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and 
Causes  of  the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  nearly 
one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  wrote  as 
follows : 

Our  merchants  and  master-manufacturers  com- 
plain much  of  the  bad  effects  of  high  wages  in  rais- 
ing the  price  and  thereby  lessening  the  sale  of  goods 
at  home  and  abroad.  They  say  nothing  of  the  bad 
effects  of  high  profits.  They  are  silent  with  regard 
to  the  pernicious  effect  of  their  own  gains.  They 
complain  only  of  those  of  other  people. 

This  statement  made  so  long  ago  is  just 
as  applicable  to  the  conditions  of  today,  and 
admonishes  us  in  approaching  our  problem 
to  do  so  with  an  open  mind,  and  not  from  a 
partisan  standpoint,  for  a  solution  cannot  be 
permanent  if  it  benefits  one  class  exclusively. 
Any  scheme  for  the  utilization  of  the  ener- 
gies of  the  community  for  the  benefit  of  one 
class  of  people  only  would  soon  destroy  de- 
mocracy, and  develop  an  oligarchy,  which 
would  be  ultimately  overturned  by  revolu- 
tion. 

Inasmuch  as  the  object  of  manufacturing 
or  any  kind  of  industry  is  to  make  profits,  it 
is  only  natural  that  the  part  that  seemed  to 
yield  large  profits  readily  should  have  been 
exploited  first. 


PEICES   AND  PROFITS  231 

As  business  increases  in  volume,  profits 
will  normally  increase  correspondingly;  but 
there  are  only  two  ways  of  substantially  in- 
creasing the  profits  per  unit  of  output — one 
by  increasing  the  selling  price,  the  other  by 
reducing  the  cost  of  production. 

Inasmuch  as  increase  of  selling  price 
yields  more  prompt  returns,  and  returns  that 
can  be  measured  with  great  accuracy,  much 
of  the  talent  of  our  manufacturers  has  been 
engaged  in  this  branch  of  the  business.  The 
successful  salesman,  or  the  operator  who  has 
succeeded  in  persuading  his  competitors  to 
join  with  him  in  upholding  or  advancing 
prices,  on  account  of  the  increased  profits 
resulting  from  his  efforts  has  been  consid- 
ered a  very  important  man  and  compensated 
accordingly.  The  recognition  of  ability,  and 
the  compensation  for  success  in  this  field, 
have  been  so  great  that  capable  workers 
from  all  directions  have  swarmed  into  it, 
and  the  industry  of  making  prices  has  pros- 
pered amazingly,  to  the  comparative  neglect, 
often,  of  the  production  end  of  business. 

With  increase  of  prices  comes  higher  cost 
of  living;  with  higher  cost  of  living  comes 
demand  for  higher  wages ;  with  higher 
wages   (unless  accompanied  by  greater  effi- 


232  WORK,    WAGES,   A^TD   PROFITS 

ciency)  comes  higher  cost  of  production. 
Then,  to  maintain  the  same  profit  under  the 
new  conditions,  we  must  again  increase  our 
selling  price,  and  the  cycle  repeats  itself. 
This  process  has  been  going  on  for  years, 
and  the  producers  have  been  gradually  at- 
tracted from  the  field  of  making  products  to 
the  more  lucrative  one  of  making  prices. 

Let  us  no"\v  consider  the  other  alternative 
— that  of  reducing  cost — and  ask  why  more 
attention  has  not  been  paid  to  it,  and  what 
we  may  expect  to  get  if  we  cultivate  this 
field  as  assiduously  as  we  have  done  the  first. 

The  first  cause  of  the  small  interest 
hitherto  shown  in  the  effort  to  improve  pro- 
duction is  that  there  is  still  a  lingering  feel- 
ing among  many  prominent  people  that  the 
shop  worker  is  not  entitled  to  the  same  de- 
gree of  consideration  as  the  office  worker; 
and  this  work  cannot  be  done  in  the  office.  It 
must  be  done  amid  dirt,  dust  and  the  noise 
of  machinery.  It  must  be  done  by  not  only 
studying  individually  the  machines  that  do 
the  work;  but  by  also  stud^dng  individually 
the  men  that  operate  them.  This  is  work 
that  requires  ability  quite  as  great  as,  if  not 
greater  than,  that  needed  for  the  making  of 
prices ;  it  also  requires  long  hours  and  over- 


PRICES    AND    PROFITS  233 

alls;  and  the  compensation  for  success  in 
this  line  does  not  compare  with  that  accorded 
the  man  who  adds  to  the  bank  account  by  get- 
ting a  higher  selling  price. 

On  account  of  these  conditions  the  effect- 
ing of  economies  in  factories  is  usually  left 
to  the  partially  educated  mechanic  or  clerk, 
who,  whatever  his  success,  seldom  gets  an 
adequate  rew^ard.  "When  the  compensation 
for  success  in  this  latter  branch  is  made 
commensurate  with  that  in  the  former,  and 
then  only,  will  it  attract  and  hold  educated 
men,  to  whom  we  must  look  for  the  success 
in  any  work  requiring  study  or  investigation. 
Study  of  men  and  processes  is  difficult,  and 
we  have  done  but  little  in  this  country  to  en- 
courage it;  but  the  time  has  come  when  we 
must  turn  our  attention  to  it  at  once,  for  the 
combination  of  the  high  cost  of  living,  and 
the  inefficiency  of  production  in  almost  all 
lines,  is  rapidly  producing  a  condition  of 
which  no  one  can  foresee  the  result. 

The  horizontal  increase  of  wages  being 
granted  by  so  many  corporations  throughout 
the  United  States  is  not  a  cure,  but  an  ex- 
pedient only  to  enable  the  workmen  to  sup- 
ply themselves  for  the  present  with  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  necessities  of  life.    Such  a 


234  WORK,    WAGES,   AND    PROFITS 

scheme  provides  temporary  relief  only,  for 
a  general  increase  of  wages  increases  costs 
again;  and,  if  sucli  a  policy  is  followed,  it 
will  not  be  long  before  a  new  increase  of 
wages  will  be  needed  to  meet  the  continually 
rising  cost  of  living. 

No  scheme  therefore  which  confines  itself 
to  parang  high  w^ages  offers  any  solution. 
In  fact  there  seems  no  solution  as  long  as 
selling  price  is  fixed  by  agreement  and  not 
by  value.  When,  however,  "conspiracies  for 
the  restraint  of  trade,"  as  such  agreements 
are  called,  are  eliminated,  a  policy  of  in- 
creasing the  efficiency  of  the  producer  and 
hence  reducing  costs,  under  a  national  sys- 
tem of  competition,  will  have  the  desired 
result.  This  is  not  an  easy  problem;  and 
there  is  no  royal  road  to  the  desired  end,  for, 
as  was  said  before,  it  means  long  hours  and 
overalls,  and  the  ability  to  study  men  and 
machines  in  the  surroundings  of  dirt,  dust 
and  noise. 

As  was  said  before,  also,  this  work  does 
not  attract  many  educated  or  capable  men, 
because  the  compensation  for  success  is  so 
meager ;  but  the.  time  is  rapidly  approaching 
when  the  men  that  can  do  this  work  well  will 
be  in  demand  at  almost  any  price.     This  is 


PRICES   AND  PROFITS  235 

peculiarly  the  work  of  the  mechanical  en- 
gineer, and  manufacturers  who  realize  this 
fact  and  take  advantage  of  it  will  be  sur- 
prised at  the  benefits  they  obtain. 

It  is  an  economic  law  that  large  profits  can 
be  permanently  secured  only  by  efficient  op- 
eration ;  and  any  man,  or  body  of  men,  that 
exacts  a  compensation  out  of  proportion  to 
the  service  rendered  will  ultimately  come  to 
grief.  The  supreme  importance  of  efficiency 
as  an  economic  factor  was  first  realized  by 
the  Germans,  and  it  is  this  fact  that  has  en- 
abled them  to  advance  their  industrial  con- 
dition, which  twenty  years  ago  was  a  jest, 
to  the  first  place  in  Europe,  if  not  in  the 
world.  We  naturally  want  to  know  in  detail 
the  methods  they  have  used;  and  the  reply 
is  that  they  have  recognized  the  value  of  the 
scientifically  trained  engineer  as  an  economic 
factor. 

In  the  United  States,  superb  natural  re- 
sources have  enabled  us  to  make  phenomenal 
progress  without  much  regard  to  the  teach- 
ings of  science,  and  in  many  cases  in  spite 
of  our  neglect  of  them.  The  progress  of 
Germany  warns  us  that  we  have  now  reached 
the  point  where  we  must  recognize  that  the 
proper  application  of  science  to  industry  is 


236  WORK;,   WAGES,   AND  PROFITS 

of  vital  importance  to  the  future  prosperity 
of  the  country. 

Many  of  our  most  prominent  men,  and  men 
of  most  influence  in  the  country,  received 
their  college  training  before  the  possibility 
of  such  a  condition  was  even  hinted  at;  and 
hence  they  fail  to  realize  its  seriousness. 
Our  universities  and  schools  of  higher  learn- 
ing are  still  in  many  cases  dominated  by 
those  whose  training  was  largely  literary  or 
classical,  and  they  utterly  fail  to  realize  the 
difference  between  a  classical  and  an  indus- 
trial age.  This  difference  is  not  sentimental, 
but  real ;  for  that  nation  which  is  industrially 
most  efficient  will  soon  become  the  richest 
and  most  powerful. 

If  we  wish  to  hold  our  place  in  the  proces- 
sion we  must  at  once  accord  the  scientist  the 
place  he  is  entitled  to,  and  we  must  recog- 
nize his  work,  and  that  of  the  engineer,  by 
such  financial  compensation  as  will  attract 
our  best  men. 

A  few  years  ago  efficiency  in  the  United 
States  was  a  local  question;  today  it  is  a 
national  question,  and  co-operation  for  its 
promotion  will  not  only  be  of  great  perma- 
nent benefit  to  those  co-operating,  but  will 
have  a  great  educational  effect  on  the  nation. 


PRICES    AND   PROFITS  237 

Co-operation  to  uphold  or  to  raise  prices 
is  seen  on  all  sides ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  find 
a  single  case  where  there  has  been  any  seri- 
ous attempt  at  co-operation  to  study  econ- 
omies, and  to  inaugurate  them  effectively. 
Systematic  work  in  this  line  would  do  more 
to  increase  prosperity,  and  to  reduce  costs, 
than  all  other  influences  combined;  and  re- 
duced selling  prices  might  be  made  without 
decreasing  profits. 

Moreover,  if  it  should  become  the  fashion 
to  co-operate  for  the  effecting  of  economies, 
instead  of  for  raising  prices,  we  should  not 
need  so  much  new  legislation  to  restrain  the 
activities  of  some  of  our  most  enterprising 
citizens. 

Although  the  application  of  the  scientific 
method  to  the  larger  problems  of  engineer- 
ing and  manufacture  has  been  most  rapid 
witkin  recent  years,  and  the  great  advances 
made  testify  to  its  success,  its  application  to 
the  innumerable  small  details  of  work  has 
been  largely  neglected.  These  details  have 
been  regarded  as  being  in  the  domain  of 
trades  rather  than  of  engineering,  and  have 
been  left  to  the  mechanic.  Inasmuch  as  me- 
chanics, as  a  class,  get  but  little  benefit  from 
the  development  of  a  better  method,  or  a 


238  WOEK,  WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

labor-saving  process,  they  are  as  a  rule  little 
interested  in  such  improvements.  It  is  not 
surprising,  therefore,  that  labor  unions 
should  offer  a  distinct  opposition  to  such  im- 
provements, and  that  workers  trained  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  union  should  consider  it 
their  duty  to  perpetuate  this  hostility.  To 
avert  this  hostility  we  must  begin  by  giving 
workmen  a  diff'erent  training. 

Before  the  advent  of  the  modern  factory 
system,  each  master  workman  owned  his 
little  shop,  which  he  ran  with  the  assistance 
of  two  or  three  journeymen,  and  in  which 
he  personally  superintended  the  training  of 
his  apprentices.  In  training  apprentices,  his 
first  object  was  to  provide  himself  with  ca- 
pable journeymen;  but  he  also  realized  that 
the  best  way  to  increase  his  reputation  was 
to  send  forth  men  that  should  be  a  credit  to 
him.  He  was  therefore  doubly  particular 
that  no  one  should  leave  his  shop  who  was 
not  able  to  do  his  work  well. 

With  the  coming  of  the  factory  system,  the 
owner  became  too  busy  to  give  much  per- 
sonal attention  to  the  apprentices,  and,  as  the 
factories  grew  larger,  he  was  often  unable 
to  take  from  the  business  end  enough  time 
to  make  himself  even  a  master  workman  in 


PRICES   AND   PROFITS  239 

all  branches  of  his  work.  With  the  increas- 
ing size  of  the  factory  the  superintendent 
also  became  too  busy  to  give  much  personal 
attention  to  the  apprentices,  and  they  were 
thus  left  to  receive  their  training  from  the 
foreman  and  their  fellow-workmen,  who,  as 
a  rule,  have  no  financial  interest  in  training 
additional  men,  who  may,  in  time,  become 
their  competitors.  This  is  undoubtedly  the 
most  important  reason  why  the  old  appren- 
tice system  has  gradually  become  less  effec- 
tive, until  today  it  is  almost  obsolete.  It  is 
also  a  good  reason  why  an  attempt  to  revive 
it  in  its  old  form  is  foredoomed  to  failure. 
The  principles  on  which  the  old  appren- 
ticeship system  was  founded  are  sound — 
namely,  that  the  success  of  the  pupil  should 
add  to  the  reputation  and  financial  better- 
ment of  the  teacher  and  pupil  both.  It  would 
seem,  then,  that  if  our  modern  methods  have 
a  similar  foundation  they  also  will  be  suc- 
cessful. Moreover,  if  the  training  is  based 
on  the  results  of  scientific  investigation,  and 
the  methods  employed  are  those  which  em- 
body our  best  knowledge  on  the  subject  of 
teaching,  we  should  be  able,  not  only  to  pro- 
vide ourselves  with  an  abundance  of  skilled 
workmen  who  are  capable  of  doing  well  the 


240  WORK^    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

tasks  set  them,  but  to  develop  many  wlio  are 
able  to  advance  the  mechanic  arts  in  a  man- 
ner superior  to  that  which  gave  the  New 
England  master  workman  of  a  generation 
ago  such  a  wide  reputation. 

There  is  really  no  sharp  line  between  me- 
chanical engineering  and  trades.  Wherever 
there  is  a  problem  to  be  solved,  no  matter 
how  small  or  common-place,  there  is  work 
for  the  educated  man;  and  his  solution  by 
the  scientific  method  is,  as  a  rule,  so  much 
better  than  that  of  the  mechanic  without 
scientific  knowledge,  that  workmen  trained 
in  the  light  of  such  a  solution  are  far  more 
efficient  than  those  trained  by  mechanics  in 
their  methods.  The  increased  efficiency  of 
such  men  entitles  them  to  increased  compen- 
sation; and,  by  awarding  that  compensation 
in  a  proper  manner,  I  have  never  failed  to 
secure  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  good 
men.  A  system  of  management  based  on 
these  methods  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  our 
assets  as  plant,  or  equipment. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  plants  that  were 
failures  under  one  manager  and  successes 
under  another,  or  vice  versa;  but  so  far  no 
satisfactory  method  is  generally  known  by 
which  a  system  of  management  can  be  put 


PRICES    AND    PROFITS  241 

into  such  a  shape  as  to  be  self -perpetuating. 
This  is  exactly  what  the  methods  described 
in  preceding  chapters  do  accomplish,  at  least 
to  a  large  extent.  The  importance  of  this 
fact  is  second  only  to  that  of  one  other, 
namely,  that  they  do  actually  get  the  highest 
possible  efficiency. 

The  reason  our  methods  are  permanent  is 
that  it  is  to  the  financial  interest  of  both 
workman  and  foreman  to  maintain  them. 
Systems  which  are  maintained  in  their  effi- 
ciency by  the  higher  officers  are  liable  to 
deteriorate  when  such  officers  become  old,  or 
are  replaced.  The  system  I  have  described 
not  only  makes  for  the  highest  efficiency,  but 
is  practically  self -perpetuating,  for  the  train- 
ing the  men  receive  fits  each  to  fill  a  higher 
position. 

In  considering  in  detail  the  elements  that 
affect  cost  of  manufacture  and,  through 
them,  profits,  most  people  place  them  in  three 
classes : — 

Wages, 

Materials, 

Overhead  expense. 

In  the  third  class  they  include  all  the  vari- 
ous items  of  expense  that  cannot  be  charged 
up  directly  to  manufacturing,  such  as  rent, 


243  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

taxes,  insurance,  salaries,  selling  expenses, 
depreciation,  power,  light,  heat,  etc.  These 
items,  taken  together,  often  amount  to  more 
than  the  wages  paid  for  doing  the  work. 
This  class  of  expense  is  very  important,  for 
it  goes  on  with  but  little  change  day  after 
day,  whether  we  do  much  work  or  little,  and 
it  must  be  added  to  the  cost  of  the  output, 
month  by  month.  If  the  output  is  small, 
this  burden  of  expense  per  unit  of  output  is 
large;  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  output  is 
large  this  expense  per  unit  is  correspond- 
ingly less. 

Andrew  Carnegie  was  one  of  the  first  men 
to  appreciate  to  what  extent  this  was  a  fact, 
and,  by  making  good  use  of  it,  he  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  practical  control  of  the 
steel  industry. 

If  the  output  of  a  plant  is  doubled,  the 
overhead  expense  per  unit  of  product  is  very 
nearly  cut  in  half.  If  at  the  same  time  we 
reduce  the  wage  cost  40  per  cent  and  double 
production,  as  we  have  shown  can  so  often 
be  done,  the  profits  mount  at  a  very  rapid 
rate. 

In  order  to  illustrate  these  points,  let  us 
assume  a  hypothetical  case  in  which  we  are 
making  a  profit  of  10  per  cent  on  the  cost 


PRICES    AND   PROFITS  243 

of  our  products,  our  expenses  for  one  week 
being  divided  as  assumed  in  the  following 
table,  which  is  closely  in  accord  with  prob- 
abilities : — 

Material $3,000 

Wages 1,000 

Expense  Burden 1,000 

$5,000 
Selling  Price 5,500 

Profit $500—10  per  cent  of  cost 

Suppose  now  we  wish  to  double  our 
product.  The  usual  method  is  to  double  the 
size  of  the  plant  without  increasing  the  effi- 
ciency of  operation.  In  this  case  all  ex- 
penses will  be  doubled,  except  the  expense 
burden,  which  will  be  very  nearly  doubled, 
and  our  case  may  be  approximately  repre- 
sented by  the  following  figures : — 

Material     $6,000 

Wages    2,000 

Expense  Burden 1,800 

$9,800 
Selling  Price    11,000 

Profit $1,200—12  per  cent  of  cost 


244  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

Suppose,  on  the  other  hand,  we  double  our 
product  by  increasing  the  efficiency  of  opera- 
tion, as  we  have  shown  can  often  be  done, 
without  increasing  the  size  of  the  plant  or 
the  number  of  workmen.  The  following  fig- 
ures will  be  fairly  representative : — 

Material     $6,000 

Wages    1,400 

Expense  Burden 1,200 

$8,600 
SeUing  Price 11,000 

Profit $2,400—28  per  cent  of  cost 

The  profit  is  nearly  five  times  as  great  as 
in  the  first  case,  and  twice  as  great  as  in  the 
second.  In  the  second  case  we  have  twice 
as  much  money  invested  in  the  plant  as  in 
the  first  and  third  cases.  But  in  the  third 
case,  where  we  have  increased  efficiency  and 
reduced  costs,  the  profit  on  invested  capital 
is  nearly  five  times  that  in  either  of  the  first 
two  cases. 

While  these  figures  are  hypothetical,  and 
are  not  applicable  to  all  industries,  they  are 
conservative,  as  they  represent  a  decrease  in 
total  cost  of  only  14  per  cent,  as  may  be  seen 
by  comparing  $5,000,  the  cost  in  the  first 
case,   with  $8,600,   the   cost   of  double   the 


PRICES   AND   PROFITS  245 

products  in  the  last  case.  To  get  a  similar 
increase  of  profit  by  increasing  the  selling 
price  without  enlarging  the  plant  or  in- 
creasing efficiency,  we  should  have  been 
obliged  to  sell  goods  that  cost  us  $5,000  for 
$7,400,  or  at  a  profit  of  nearly  50  per  cent. 
Such  an  increase  in  selling  price  would  sim- 
ply be  an  invitation  to  other  competitors  to 
come  into  the  field.  If  such  a  competitor 
should  operate  as  efficiently  as  we  have  as- 
sumed to  be  possible  in  our  third  case,  and 
competition  should  force  the  price  down,  he 
could  sell  his  goods  for  less  than  our  original 
cost  and  still  make  a  profit  of  15  per  cent. 

If  manufacturers  in  general  realized  how 
much  an  increase  in  efficient  operation  really 
meant  to  them,  they  would  be  very  slow  to 
increase  the  size  of  a  plant  until  they  had  be- 
come pretty  well  convinced  that  they  had 
gotten  it  up  to  its  maximum  efficiency. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  manufacturer 
is  true  of  that  greatest  of  producers,  the 
farmer,  as  well ;  but  we  must  not  expect  him 
to  understand  what  the  more  favored  manu- 
facturer so  often  fails  to  appreciate,  namely, 
that  efficient  operation  of  a  small  plant,  or 
farm,  is  more  profitable  than  the  slack  op- 
eration of  a  large  one. 


246  work;,  wages,  and  profits 

If  the  same  intelligence  and  industry  had 
been  applied  generally  to  the  art  of  produc- 
tion as  have  been  exercised  in  selling  prod- 
ucts, I  can  hardly  help  feeling  that  we  should 
be  suffering  less  acutely  today  from  high 
prices.  In  the  long  run  prices  are  governed 
by  supply  and  demand.  When  it  comes  to  be 
generally  realized  that  efficient  production 
and  a  large,  cheap,  product  form  a  more  sta- 
ble basis  for  profits  than  a  small,  expensive 
one,  because  they  form  a  more  stable  basis 
for  prosperity,  we  may  hope  that  some  of  the 
talent  that  has  been  exploiting  the  over- 
worked field  of  making  prices  will  return  to 
the  comparatively  fallow  field  of  making 
products. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  intimat- 
ing that  nothing  has  been  done  in  this  field. 
Much  has  been  done,  especially  in  the  steel 
industry ;  but  it  is  a  mere  drop  in  the  bucket, 
when  compared  with  what  still  remains  to  be 
done  in  almost  all  productive  industries. 
The  steel  industry  was  one  of  the  first  to 
utilize  educated  engineers,  and  to  study  the 
methods  of  efficient  operation.  The  fact  that 
steel  products  brought  high  prices  has  never 
stood  in  the  way  of  reducing  cost ;  and  today, 
thanks  to  this  policy,  American  steel  makers 
can  compete  with  any  in  the  world. 


PRICES   AND  PROFITS  347 

If  the  mucli  boasted  superiority  of  the 
American  people  is  really  a  fact,  and  the 
phenomenal  progress  of  the  past  is  really 
due  to  the  ability  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  not  mainly  to  splendid  natural 
resources,  we  should  rise  to  the  occasion,  and 
become  the  example  for  others  to  point  to. 
This  cannot  be  done  by  making  prices ;  and  a 
tariff  that  is  so  high  as  to  enable  profits  to 
be  made  regardless  of  cost  is  not  a  protec- 
tion, but  a  decided  detriment  to  the  country. 
A  tariff  that  encourages  efficiency  is  more 
to  be  desired  than  that  which  will  enable  its 
beneficiaries  to  accumulate  wealth,  for  any 
prosperity  not  based  on  efficiency  is  on  an 
unstable  foundation. 

In  order  to  bring  the  efficiency  of  opera- 
tion up  to  the  point  we  have  shown  to  be 
possible,  we  must  first  have  absolute  control 
of  the  materials  we  use  and  the  tools  we 
work  with.  In  other  words,  we  must  see 
that  the  proper  materials  are  always  ready, 
and  that  proper  tools  for  doing  the  work  are 
available.  This  is  a  function  of  the  manage- 
ment, and  not  of  the  workmen,  and  necessi- 
tates the  keeping  of  an  exact  record  of  the 
materials  used.  Inasmuch  as  material  repre- 
sents money,  any  attempt  to  keep  an  exact 
record  of  it,  and  of  where  and  how  waste 


248  WORK^   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

occurs,  results  at  once  in  a  saving  far  in  ex- 
cess of  the  cost  of  keeping  the  records. 

"When  therefore  we  begin  to  install  a  sys- 
tem of  management  on  the  lines  indicated, 
nearly  every  step  produces  a  saving ;  but,  as 
many  concerns  have  no  records  that  show 
leaks  and  losses  of  material,  it  is  usually 
difficult  to  show  what  has  been  saved  by 
stopping  such  losses.  Again,  when  we  begin 
to  put  machinery  in  condition  to  enable  us 
to  run  it  at  its  proper  efficiency,  and  to  en- 
able each  man  to  do  a  proper  day's  work,  the 
expense  incurred  to  accomplish  this  end  is 
usually  charged  against  the  "new  system/* 
whereas  it  should  be  charged  against  the  sys- 
tem that  put  the  machinery  out  of  condition. 

Inasmuch  as  in  any  change  in  management 
the  mechanism  of  the  old  system  must  not  be 
disturbed  until  that  of  the  new  system  is 
working  smoothly,  there  is  always  some  time 
when  we  must  practically  run  two  systems. 
From  these  considerations  it  is  evident  that, 
no  matter  how  much  we  may  be  able  to  in- 
crease the  profits  in  the  long  run,  we  must 
not  expect  results  to  show  in  the  form  of 
profits  at  once. 

The  total  cost  of  making  the  change  from 
the  old  system  to  the  new  is  not  greatly  dif- 


PRICES    AND   PROFITS  349 

ferent,  whethor  it  be  done  quickly  or  slowly. 
If  it  is  done  quickly,  the  benefits  are  gotten 
that  much  sooner ;  but  the  expense  is  concen- 
trated in  a  short  time,  and,  unless  this  fact  is 
realized  from  the  start,  it  is  apt  to  cause  a 
certain  amount  of  hesitation  at  the  very  time 
when  the  work  should  be  pushed  fastest.  If 
the  plant  is  a  large  one,  or  one  doing  a  large 
variety  of  work,  the  advantages  of  control- 
ling the  material,  planning  the  work,  and 
increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  individual  are 
so  great  that  a  little  done  in  this  direction 
soon  makes  itself  felt,  for  the  plant  begins 
to  run  more  smoothly,  wastes  diminish,  and 
profits  begin  to  increase,  and  we  are  on  the 
road  to  our  ideal,  a  self-perpetuating  system 
of  management  based  on  the  efficient  utiliza- 
tion of  scientific  knoivledge. 

Such  a  system  seems  Utopian.  Perhaps 
it  is,  but  we  have  seen  the  possibilities  of  it 
so  clearly,  and  have  in  actual  operation  ap- 
proximations to  it  so  close,  that  we  are  pre- 
pared to  see  its  realization  in  the  near 
future.  Under  such  a  system  in  its  best  de- 
velopment we  have  co-operation  like  that  in 
a  foot-ball  team,  or  an  orchestra,  where  each 
man  has  assigned  to  him  the  part  he  can  do 
best,  and  where  he  does  it  with  pride  and  joy 


250  WORK^   WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

to  the  best  of  his  ability.  The  organization 
of  such  a  system  must  be  perfected  by  men 
familiar  with  the  industries  and  trained  in 
the  methods  of  scientific  investigation.  The 
graduates  of  our  engineering  schools  are  the 
men  on  whose  shoulders  this  problem  natur- 
ally falls,  and  if  they  are  capable  of  handling 
it,  they  will  gain  for  the  profession  of  en- 
gineering the  recognition  to  which  it  is  al- 
ready entitled,  as  the  most  important  factor 
in  modern  civilization. 


A    PRACTICAL    EXAMPLE 


Chapter  XII 

A    PEACTICAL    EXAMPLE 

npHIS  chapter  has  been  called  *'A  Prac- 
■*-  tical  Example"  for  want  of  a  better 
term.  It  is  in  reality  an  attempt  to  summa- 
rize the  contents  of  this  book  and  to  illustrate 
more  specifically  how  the  principles  outlined 
in  the  previous  chapters  are  carried  out.  In 
such  an  attempt  there  must  necessarily  be 
many  repetitions  of  what  has  previously 
been  said.  The  repetition  which  is  most  pro- 
nounced is  the  one  concerning  the  man  rec- 
ord, the  usefulness  of  which  has  been  appre- 
ciated by  but  few  people.  In  Chapter  IV, 
on  "Day  Work,"  this  subject  is  discussed 
and  a  form  shown,  headed  ''Machine  Rec- 
ord." This  particular  form  is  used  where 
the  man  in  question  is  working  continuously 
on  one  machine,  in  which  case  the  man  rec- 
ord and  the  machine  record  are  identical. 
Inasmuch  as  our  first  object  is  always  to 
train  people  to  utilize  all  the  knowledge  that 
we  have,  it  is  essential  that  we  should  have 
some  measure  of  the  individual  to  find  out 
253 


254  WORK,    WAGES^   AND   PROFITS 

wliether  lie  is  responding  to  our  efforts  or 
not.  Previous  to  the  time  of  the  setting  of  a 
task  the  man  record  has  been  our  best  in- 
strument for  this  purpose. 

The  task  and  bonus  system  was  introduced 
by  me  in  the  Bethlehem  Steel  works  in  1901, 
as  a  means  of  affording  substantial  justice  to 
the  employee,  while  requiring  him  to  conform 
to  the  best  interests  of  his  employer.  The 
employee  was  not  told  in  a  general  way  ''to 
do  better,"  hut  had  a  definite  standard  set 
for  him,  and  was  shown  how  to  reach  that 
standard,  for  ivhich  he  was  awarded  com- 
pensation in  addition  to  his  usual  day's  pay. 

The  system  may  be  described  in  a  general 
way  as  follows :  A  card  is  made  out  show- 
ing in  detail  the  best  method  we  can  devise 
of  performing  each  of  the  elementary  opera- 
tions on  any  piece  of  work,  specifying  the 
tools  to  be  used,  and  setting  the  time  needed 
for  each  of  these  operations  as  determined 
by  experiments.  The  sum  of  these  times  is 
the  total  time  allowed  to  complete  the  piece 
of  w^ork.  If  a  man  follows  his  instructions, 
and  accomplishes  all  the  work  laid  out  for 
him  as  constituting  his  proper  task  for  the 
day,  he  is  paid  a  specified  bonus,  in  addition 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  255 

to  his  day  rate,  which  he  always  gets.  If, 
however,  at  the  end  of  the  day,  he  has  failed 
to  accomplish  all  the  work  laid  out,  he  does 
not  get  his  bonus,  but  simply  his  day  rate. 
As  the  time  for  each  detail  operation  is 
stated  on  the  instruction  card,  the  workman 
can  continually  see  whether  he  is  earning 
his  bonus  or  not.  If  he  finds  any  operation 
which  he  cannot  do  in  the  time  set,  he  must 
at  once  report  to  his  foreman,  who  must 
show  him  how  to  do  it,  or  report  to  the  man 
who  made  out  the  instruction  card.  If  the 
latter  has  made  an  error,  he  must  make  out 
a  new  instruction  card,  explaining  the  proper 
method  of  working,  and  allowing  the  proper 
time.  If,  however,  the  instructor  contends 
that  the  work  can  be  done  in  the  time  set,  he 
must  show  the  workmen  how  to  do  it. 

The  preferred  way  of  paying  the  bonus  is 
as  extra  time,  figured  as  a  percentage  of  the 
time  allowed,  usually  betwen  25  per  cent  and 
50  per  cent. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  possible  importance 
that  errors  in  making  out  instruction  cards 
should  be  as  few  as  possible.  A  man  must 
be  allowed  time  only  for  what  is  stated  on 
his  card;  and,  while  a  reasonable  time  must 
be  allowed  for  each  operation,  he  should  fail 


256  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

to  receive  his  bonus  if  time  is  lost  from  any 
cause  whatever.  (The  foremen  also  receive, 
in  addition  to  their  day  wages,  compensation 
proportional  to  the  number  of  their  men  who 
earn  a  bonus,  and  an  extra  compensation 
if  all  earn  bonuses.) 

As  these  cards  are  made  out  by  a  skilful 
man,  with  records  of  investigations  at  hand, 
they  invariably  prescribe  a  better  method 
for  doing  the  work  than  the  ordinary  work- 
man, or  foreman,  could  devise  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment.  As  all  the  appliances  and 
instructions  necessary  for  doing  the  work 
are  furnished,  and  a  bonus  is  allowed  the 
workman  in  addition  to  his  regular  rate  if 
the  work  is  done  satisfactorily  in  the  time 
set,  it  wall  be  seen  at  once  that  this  method  is 
really  a  system  of  education  tvith  prizes  for 
those  who  learn.  The  results  obtained  bear 
out  this  idea  of  education  most  fully,  for 
under  this  plan  men  have  learned  more  in 
a  few  months  than  the  same  men  ever  did 
before  in  years. 

SCIENTIFIC   METHOD 

In  order  to  get  the  information  needed  to 
make  good  instruction  cards,  a  very  large 
amount  of  detail  work  is  necessary.    When 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  257 

we  realize,  however,  that  any  operation,  no 
matter  how  complicated,  can  be  resolved  into 
a  series  of  simple  operations,  we  have 
grasped  the  key  to  the  solution  of  many  prob- 
lems. Further  study  leads  us  to  the  con- 
clusion that  many  different  complicated  op- 
erations are  composed  of  a  number  of  the 
same  simple  operations  performed  in  dif- 
ferent orders,  and  that  the  number  of  ele- 
mentary operations  is  frequently  smaller 
than  the  number  of  complicated  operations 
of  which  they  form  the  parts,  just  as  the 
number  of  letters  in  the  alphabet  is  smaller 
than  the  number  of  words  in  the  language. 
The  logical  method,  therefore,  of  studying  a 
complicated  operation  is  undoubtedly  to 
study  the  simple  operations  of  which  it  is 
composed;  a  thorough  knowledge  of  these 
will  always  throw  a  great  deal  of  light  on  the 
complex  operation.  In  other  words,  the  time 
needed  for  performing  any  complex  opera- 
tion must  necessarily  depend  upon  the  time 
and  method  of  performing  the  simple  opera- 
tions of  which  it  is  composed.  The  natural 
method,  then,  of  informing  ourselves  about 
a  complex  operation  is  to  study  its  compo- 
nent elementary  operations.  Such  study 
divides  itself  into  three  parts,  as  follows : 


268  WORK^   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

An  analysis  of  the  operation  into  its  ele- 
ments. 

A  study  of  these  elements  separately. 

A  synthesis,  or  putting  together  the  results 
of  our  study. 

This  is  recognized  at  once  as  simply  the 
ordinary  scientific  method  of  procedure  fol- 
lowed whenever  it  is  desired  to  make  any 
kind  of  investigation;  and  it  is  well  known 
to  all  that  until  this  method  was  known  and 
adopted,  science  made  practically  no  pro- 
gress. I  believe  that,  if  it  is  desired  to  obtain 
the  correct  solution  of  any  problem,  we  must 
follow  the  well  beaten  paths  of  scientific  in- 
vestigation, which  alone  have  led  to  reliable 
results.  The  ordinary  man,  whether  me- 
chanic or  laborer,  if  not  instructed,  but  left 
to  himself,  seldom  performs  any  operation 
in  the  manner  most  economical  either  of  time 
or  labor.  It  has  been  conclusively  proven 
that,  even  on  ordinary  day  work,  a  very  de- 
cided advantage  can  be  gained  by  instructing 
the  men  how  best  to  perform  the  work  they 
are  set  to  do.  When  these  instructions  are 
the  result  of  scientific  investigation,  and  a 
liberal  reward  is  given  for  following  them, 
the  gain  in  efficiency  is  usually  beyond  our 
highest  expectations. 


A   PRACTICAL  EXAMPLE  259 

It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  nearly 
every  operation  can  be,  and  in  actual  work 
is,  performed  in  a  number  of  different  ways ; 
but  it  is  self-evident  that  these  ways  are  not 
all  equally  efficient.  As  a  rule  some  of  the 
methods  employed  are  so  obviously  ineffi- 
cient that  they  may  be  discarded  at  once, 
but  it  is  often  a  problem  of  considerable  diffi- 
culty to  find  out  the  very  best  method,  and 
it  is  only  by  a  scientific  investigation  of  each 
of  the  elements  that  we  can  hope  to  arrive 
at  even  an  approximate  solution. 

INSTRUCTION  CAEDS  AND  PIECE  RATES 

When  a  piece  rate  is  made  out  for  any  kind 
of  work  with  which  the  men  are  not  thor- 
oughly familiar,  it  is  obviously  only  simple 
justice  to  them  that  they  should  have  detailed 
instructions  how  to  accomplish  each  of  the 
elements  of  the  work  in  the  time  needed  to 
earn  fair  wages.  Permanent  piece  rates  can 
be  set  only  when  the  instructions  are  such  as 
will  insure  accomplishment  of  the  work  in 
the  minimum  time,  and  to  get  sufficient  in- 
formation to  make  out  instruction  cards  suit- 
able for  permanent  piece  rates  is  often  a 
long  and  tedious  operation.  On  the  other 
hand,  instruction  cards  may  be  made  out  to 


260  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

show  the  best  method  of  doing  work  which  we 
can  devise  with  our  present  knowledge  and 
appliances.  Such  cards  will  seldom  repre- 
sent the  very  best  method  of  performing  the 
work,  but  will  usually  represent  a  method  far 
superior  to  that  which  the  ordinary  work- 
man would  employ.  If  we  can  get  the  men 
to  do  the  work  as  directed  on  these  cards, 
we  can  very  largely  increase  the  efficiency 
of  their  work.  This  is  a  most  obvious  way 
of  increasing  output ;  but  to  base  a  piece  rate 
on  such  an  instruction  card  would  be  simply 
inviting  trouble,  as  but  few  men  could  see 
that  it  was  just  to  change  a  piece  rate  when 
we  changed  the  method  of  doing  the  work. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  allow  the  men  their 
day  rate  and  offer  them  a  bonus  for  doing 
the  work  in  accordance  with  our  instruction 
cards,  they  see  at  once  that  they  have  noth- 
ing to  lose  by  conforming  to  our  wishes,  and 
all  to  gain,  with  the  result  that  in  a  short 
time  they  will  make  an  effort  to  do  the  work 
in  the  manner  and  time  set.  As  stated  in 
advance,  these  instruction  cards  do  not  neces- 
sarily represent  the  best  possible  method  of 
doing  the  work,  but  the  best  method  which 
we  could  devise  at  the  time,  and  we  have 
found  that  there  is  practically  no  objection 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  261 

on  the  part  of  tlie  men  to  a  change  of  time  on 
these  cards,  so  long  as  the  new  time  corre- 
sponds to  a  new  set  of  instructions  which 
will  enable  them  to  perform  the  work  in  the 
time  set.  This  difference  between  ordinary 
piece  work  and  our  bonus  system  is  funda- 
mental. 

It  is  hard  to  over-estimate  the  value  of  a 
complete  set  of  instructions  showing  the  best 
method  we  can  devise  of  performing  a  piece 
of  work;  and  when  we  come  to  consider  the 
question  of  piece  work,  the  payment  of  a 
bonus,  or,  in  fact,  any  method  of  compensa- 
tion, proper  instructions  embodying  our  best 
knowledge  on  the  subject  are  indispensable 
to  good  results. 

APPLICATION  OF  INSTRUCTION  CARDS  TO  A 
MACHINE  SHOP 

In  order  to  make  proper  instruction  cards 
for  a  machine  shop  doing  a  variety  of  work, 
it  is  necessary  to  know  the  laws  of  the  cut- 
ting of  metals,  as  well  as  the  time  for  han- 
dling work  in  that  particular  shop,  which 
latter  depends  upon  location  of  tools,  equip- 
ment, etc.  The  laws  of  cutting  metals  are 
very  complicated,  but  they  have  been  de- 
termined by  Mr.  F.  W.  Taylor  and  reduced 


263  WORK^   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

to  a  slide  rule  for  convenient  use  by  the 
writer.  This  slide  rule  has  been  improved  by 
Mr.  Carl  G.  Barth,  w^ho  adapted  it  to  planers, 
drill  presses,  and  slotters.  By  means  of 
these  slide  rules  w^e  can  determine  promptly 
the  most  economical  feed  and  speed  for  doing 
any  operation  on  a  piece  of  metal  of  given 
physical  qualities. 

As  an  illustration  of  exactly  how  instruc- 
tion cards  are  made  out  in  a  machine  shop, 
let  us  cite  the  case  of  a  forging  that  has  to 
be  rough-machined.  The  drawing  first  goes 
to  an  expert  mechanic,  who  has  charge  of 
what  is  known  as  the  routing  of  the  piece 
through  the  shop.  He  decides  the  order  in 
which  the  various  operations  of  turning, 
planing,  slotting,  drilling,  etc.,  etc.,  are  to 
be  done.  In  a  shop  doing  a  variety  of  work 
too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  on  the  rout- 
ing, for,  besides  the  advantage  of  knowing 
in  the  office  the  progress  of  the  work,  the 
saving  made  by  performing  the  various  op- 
erations in  the  best  order  is  very  great.  This 
subject  of  routing  is  large  enough  for  a  paper 
by  itself,*  so  it  can  only  be  mentioned  here 
and  its  importance  emphasized. 

*  See  the  paper  by  Charles  Day,  "The  Routing  Dia- 
gram as  a  Basis  for  Laying  Out  Industrial  Plants,"  The 
Engineering  Magazine,  September,  1910. 


A  PRACTICAL  EXAMPLE  263 

If  the  first  operation  to  be  performed  is 
to  be  that  of  turning,  the  forging  is  assigned 
to  the  lathe  best  fitted  for  handling  this  par- 
ticular job.  The  work  to  be  done  on  each 
machine  is  then  analyzed  by  a  first-class 
machinist,  who  can  frequently  make  use  of 
the  above-mentioned  slide  rule  to  advantage, 
and  who  makes  out  an  instruction  card  on 
which  the  operations  to  be  performed  on  this 
lathe  are  placed  in  proper  order,  with  proper 
instructions,  the  calculated  time  being  given 
for  performing  each  operation.  The  kind 
of  tool  to  be  used,  the  feed  and  speed,  are 
specified  for  every  machine  operation.  For 
every  other  operation,  such  as  putting  in  and 
taking  out  of  work,  setting  tools,  changing 
feed  gears,  etc.,  instructions  are  given,  and 
the  time  that  each  should  take  is  placed  di- 
rectly opposite  the  description,  in  a  column 
designed  for  that  purpose.     This  system  of 

At  the  Zeiss  Optical  Works  in  Germany  I  found  their 
best  expert  mechanic  engaged  in  this  routing  work.  I 
was  advised  that  this  practice  of  having  every  new  piece 
of  work  analyzed  into  its  details,  and  the  sequence  of 
operations  specified,  had  been  in  use  at  the  Zeiss  Works 
seventeen  years.  Moreover,  I  was  advised  that  such 
practice  was  quite  common  throughout  Germany  in  the 
larger  works.  It  is  my  opinion  that  this  practice  itself, 
if  it  is  as  general  as  I  was  advised,  goes  a  long  way  to 
explain  the  great  industrial  progress  made  in  Germany 
in  the  last  twenty  years,  for  such  a  practice  has  an 
indirect  value  as  great  as  its  direct  value,  in  keeping  the 
management  in  close  touch  with  the  needs  of  the  shop. 


OM  l»-W)a-B,«,l«OI. 

CLASS  OF  WORK 

Lathe 

STANDING  ORDER 
460 

ORDER  NUMBER 

16837 

MACHINE  NUMBER 

59 

TOOL 
ME 

CLASS  OF  METAL 
14 

FORGING  NUMBER 
22706    B.  F.                   1 

MAN'S  NAMF.                                               ^--           SPEFDBOSS                 M 

DESCRIPTION  OF  OPERATION 

SHAPE 

OF 
TOOL 

CUT 

FEED 

1     TIME 

SPEED  1   WORK 

SHOULD 

TAKE 

TIME 

WORK 

DID 

TAKE 

RATE 

Change  Machine               20 

Min 

1 f 

(For  1st  one 

Dnly) 

1 

Chuck  for  turning  webs 

12 

2 

Turn  webs 

PRL 

Scuts   E 

4AF 

1:40 

3 

Change  to  pin  centers 

10 

4 

Rough  pin  to  4  ji"  <iia 

PSR 

.005 

5AF 

2:10 

5 

Rough  face  vrebs  use  end 

ible, 
tool 

Scut 

G 

4AF 

1:40 

6 

Fin.         ,,         ,,        .,     '  .. 

„ 

Icut 

H 

,, 

5.0 

7 

Fin.  turn  pin  &  cut  fillets 

E 

2AF 

2:00 

8 

File  pin  round 

1:10 

9 

Polish  pin 

2BF 

40 

10 

Inspect 

15 

11 

Remove  crank 

5 

12 

10:52 

10:5^ 

i 

13 

Pin  is  *1  finish,    webs  i 

.re  * 

3  f  ii 

lish. 

14 

(Bonus 

earn 

Ld) 

15 

16 

'  T» 

17 

=? 

18 

19 

"co 

20 

=t, 

21 

i 

22 

1" 

ours 

23 

Previous  tine         54  Y 

Discapruy,  C«i0  No. 

Sheet  D«a*i-.g  No. 

8.S.CCI.  DaA«iso  No. 

MONTH 

OAr 

YEAR 

SIGNED 

4311 

PCMB 

26194  7  A 

7 

17 

01 

Buckley- 

WHEN  MACHINE  CAN  NOT  BE  RUN  AS  ORDERED,  SPEED  BOSS  MUST  AT  ONCE 
REPORT  TO  MAN  WHO  SIGNED  THIS  SLIP      r(u  fi«!i(»t.rtes «a»«w« 

FIG.    18.      INSTRUCTION  CARD   FOB  TURNING  A  CRANK-SHAFT. 
BETHLEHEM   STEEL  CO.,   JULY   17,    1901 
264 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE 


265 


instruction  cards  was  introduced  by  me  into 
Machine  Shop  No.  2,  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel 
Company,  in  June,  1899. 


Form 

INSTRUCTION  CARD  NO 

CLASS  OF  WORK  PLANING  FRAMES               MACHINE  Nn      Pe2 
MATERIAL.   WROnGHT  IRON                              RIZP     2a'a"i  33" 
TOOLRTFPI     MIDVALB                                           CABn  QRAWIkfl  No 
OATP        2/30/02                                                              ORDFR  No 

DESCRIPTION  OF  OPERATIOH 

SHAPa 

CUT 

„.. 

•  PBKD 

TAKB 

1 

SET  WORK 

120 

2 

BOUGH  ONE  SIDE 

1" 

•k" 

30 

100 

3 

FINISH       •• 

1" 

.. 

76 

4 

REMOVE  WORK  AND  CLEAN  UP 

30 

5 

RESET 

BO 

6 

BOUGH  ONE  SIDE 

3" 
T 

_5." 

30 

190 

7 

FINISH       •• 

1" 

■' 

75 

8 

REMOVE  WORK  AND  CLEAN  UP 

30 

9 

800 

10 

TOTAL  TIME 

11 

13  HBS.  20  MIN. 

12 

13 

14 

WHEN  MACHINE  CAN   NOT  BE  RUN  AS  ORDERED, 
FOREMAN  MUST  AT  ONCE  REPORT  TO 

■MULLANET        SiONiD 

XUEno 

n€cn„3 

UaoufiM 

FIG.    19.      INSTRUCTION    CARD,   PLANING   LOCOMOTIVE 

FRAMES.      AMERICAN   LOCOMOTIVE   CO. 

Note  its  equivalence  to  a  detail  schedule  as  explained  on  page  289. 

Figures  18,  19,  20  and  21  are  sample  in- 
struction cards  from  various  machine  shops, 
They  need  no  description. 


366  WOEK^   WAGES^   AND   PEOFITS 

There  was  comparatively  little  difficulty  in 
inducing  the  men  to  perform  the  automatic 
operations  according  to  the  instructions 
given.  For  instance,  they  would  run  their 
machines  at  the  feed  and  speed  called  for, 
but  the  great  difficulty  was  that  it  seemed 
impossible  to  prevent  them  from  losing  time 
between  operations.  One  would  frequently 
find  many  of  the  machines  idle,  and  yet  every 
workman  could  give  a  more  or  less  plausible 
excuse  why  his  machine  was  not  running, 
and  this  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  tools  were 
ground  for  him  and  furnished  to  him,  and 
the  work  so  prepared  that  all  he  had  to  do 
was  to  put  it  into  the  machine  and  begin 
cutting.  In  other  words,  no  matter  how  effi- 
ciently the  machines  were  run  through  their 
actual  working  time,  the  men  found  good 
excuses  for  taking  more  than  the  prescribed 
time  on  every  job. 

TASK    AND    BONUS    NOT    AN    ENTIRE    SYSTEM 
OF  MANAGEMENT 

Although  the  scientific  investigation  of 
methods  and  the  making  of  instruction  cards 
are  important  factors  in  a  system  of  manage- 
ment, they  are  not  the  ivhole  system;  and  a 
means  of  utilizing  them  is  even  a  miore  im- 


INSTRUCTION  CARD 


LIST  NO 


28  L  6 


NOTE;- DIMENSIONS  ON  SKETCH  MUST  NOT 
BE  USED  IN  MACHtNlNQ 

USE  STANDARD  DRAWING, 


BACK  CrUNOER  COVER 


CYU  OIA.  20  TO  24   INCLUSIVE 


DRILL  CYLINDER  AND  GLAND  STUD 


HOLES,  GUIDE  BAR  BOLT  HOLES, 


AND  CASING  SCREW  HOLES. 


BERTRAM  RADIAL  DRILL  NO.  31. 


TWISTED  STEEL. 


PAY  EQUIVALENT 


FIRST  PIECE 


EACH  ADDITIONAL  PIECE. 


ru  Aigliw«rte#  JCdJsita* 


FIG.   20. 


INSTRUCTION  CARD  FOR  DRILLING  A  CYLINDER 
COVER,   C.  P.  E.       (face) 


DETAILED   INSTRUCTIONS 

Tool 

Diut.. 
of 
Dull 

Fgad 
P«f  Uin. 

Spindit 
Sp..d 

Miiutel 

AIICMd 

PREPARE  MACHINE  FOR  Ut.  PIECE. 

15.0 

1.      SET  UP  AND  CLAMP  JIG. 

4.0 

2.      SET  DRILL. 

0.5 

3.       DRILL  1 7  CYLINDER  STUD  HOLES 

DOr 

1  1-e 

2  3-4 

225 

15.5 

4.       REMOVE  JIG  AND  REVERSE  COVER. 

3.0 

S,      CHANGE  DRILL. 

1.0 

6.       DRILL  4  Gland  STUD  HOLES 

DDF 

25-32 

2  3-1 

225 

4.0 

7.       REMOVE  CLAMP 

1.0 

8.       SET  ON  SIDE  OF  TABLE  AND  CLAMP. 

3.0 

9,      CHANGE  DRILL. 

1.0 

10.    drill;  GUIDE  BAR  HOLES. 

DDF 

1  3  8 

2  3-4 

225 

3.0 

11.    TURN  ROUND  ANDCLAMP 

3.0 

12.    DRILL  2  GUIDE  BAR  HOLES. 

DDF 

1   3-8 

2  3-4 

225 

3.0 

13.     CHANGE  DRILL 

1.0 

14.     DRILL  3  CASING'SCREW  HOLES  INCLUDING. 

3  SETTINGS  OF  COVER. 

DDE 

13-32 

2 

225 

7.0 

15.    REMOVE. 

3.t 

TOTAL   MINUTES 

53.0 

TOTAL 

HOURS 

PER  PIC 

CE 

0.9 

FIG.  21.      INSTRUCTION  CARD  FOR  DRILLING  A  CYLINDER 
COVER,   C.   P.   E.       (reverse) 

267 


268  WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

portant  part  of  any  system  of  management 
than  they  themselves  are.  In  fact,  they  are 
of  but  little  value,  unless  we  have  already 
installed  a  system  by  which  we  can  be  as- 
sured that  our  instructions  are  carried  out. 
Moreover,  such  a  system  is  of  great  value 
whether  we  make  a  scientific  study  of  our 
processes  or  not,  for  it  enables  us  to  utilize 
fully  the  knowledge  we  have.  It  is  much 
more  important  as  a  rule  to  utilize  efficiently 
the  knowledge  we  have  than  to  get  new 
knowledge.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  much  loss 
is  often  caused  by  seeking  new  knowledge 
when  we  should  be  trying  to  utilize  better 
what  we  have.  While  instructions,  a  task, 
and  a  bonus  are  essential  elements  in  a 
complete  system  of  management,  I  feel  that 
they  are  not  the  first  portions  to  be  installed ; 
and  in  a  number  of  cases  I  have  absolutely 
refused  to  do  work  with  people  who  wanted 
this  portion  before  the  proper  foundation 
was  laid. 

In  more  than  one  case  in  my  experience, 
where  my  advice  on  this  subject  has  been 
disregarded,  the  results  have  been  almost 
fatal  to  the  success  of  the  work. 

In  most  establishments  few  people  have 
any  idea  of  obeying  orders  exactly,  nor  have 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  269 

many  of  those  in  authority  any  idea  of  giv- 
ing orders  so  that  they  can  be  obeyed  exactly. 

We  must  first  devise  means  by  which  we 
can  give  specific  orders,  and  see  that  they  are 
carried  out.  Having  devised  such  a  system, 
we  must  train  people  to  work  according  to 
it.  One  difficulty  in  the  way  of  operating 
such  a  system  in  most  factories,  as  at  pres- 
ent managed,  is  that  the  amount  of  clerical 
work  becomes  so  great  as  to  make  its  suc- 
cessful operation  a  burden,  and  most  people 
prefer  to  get  along  anyway  rather  than  as- 
sume that  burden. 

I  have  given  much  attention  to  this  fea- 
ture, and  my  paper,  "A  Graphical  Daily  Bal- 
ance in  Manufacture, ' '  read  before  the  Amer- 
ican Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  in  June, 
1903,  describes  the  general  method  employed. 
This  is  a  method  of  scheduling  and  recording 
work  which  has  been  found  most  satisfactory, 
as  offering  the  means  by  which  we  could  get 
our  work  done  at  the  time  and  in  the  manner 
we  wished.  These  schedules  form  the  basis 
on  which  I  found  much  of  my  work,  for,  by 
the  proper  operation  of  such  balances  as 
those  described,  we  can  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  begin  to  get  a  direct  benefit. 

In  installing  such  a  set  of  schedules  the 


270  WORK,    WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

work  must  be  done  in  the  manner  best 
adapted  to  the  application  of  the  task  and 
bonus  system  later. 

The  essentials  of  a  correct  system  are  a 
store-keeping  system  and  a  time-keeping 
system  suited  to  this  method  of  controlling 
work,  a  balance  of  w^ork,  a  man  record,  and 
a  system  of  expense  and  cost  keeping  that 
enables  the  superintendent  to  know  each  day 
what  tvas  done  the  day  previous,  who  did  it, 
and  what  the  expense  of  it  was. 

The  following  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
important  elements  of  such  a  system: 

MAN   KECOED 

In  order  to  operate  such  a  system  we  must 
not  only  have  an  exact  record  of  what  each 
workman  does  each  day,  in  order  to  find  out 
whether  he  has  earned  his  bonus  or  not,  but 
must  have  beforehand  an  exact  knowledge 
of  the  work  to  be  done  and  how  it  is  to  be 
done.  This  amounts  to  keeping  two  sets  of 
balances ;  one,  of  what  each  workman  should 
do  and  did  do;  the  other,  of  the  amount  of 
work  to  be  done  and  actually  done.  The 
former,  or  man's  record,  is  concerned  with 
the  training  of  men  to  earn  the  bonus,  and 
consists   in   an    exact   comparison   of   what 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  271 

should  be  done  as  determined  by  our  investi- 
gations, and  what  was  done,  as  shown  by 
the  daily  reports.  It  is  also  of  great  value  in 
the  preliminary  period  of  day  work  before 
we  set  any  tasks,  as  it  enables  us  to  know 
each  day  what  every  workman  is  doing  for 
the  money  he  receives.  Where  the  rate  of 
wages  is  set  and  advanced  in  accordance 
with  his  record,  it  has  been  found  to  be  a 
very  satisfactory  method  of  producing  ef- 
ficiency. While  it  does  not  take  the  place  of 
scientific  task-setting,  it  is  far  superior  to 
rate-setting  without  proper  study. 

DAILY  BALANCE  OF  WOKK 

This  latter  is  a  balance  of  work  on  each 
order,  and  should  show  at  a  glance  each  day 
just  what  has  been  done  and  what  remains 
to  be  done,  in  order  to  enable  us  to  lay  out 
the  work  for  the  next  day  in  the  most  eco- 
nomical manner.  The  importance  of  such  a 
balance  has  been  long  recognized,  but  the 
difficulty  of  getting  it  is  such  that  it  has  sel- 
dom been  attempted.  Many  concerns  get  a 
weekly  or  monthly  balance;  but  in  both  of 
these  cases  the  information  is  usually  ob- 
tained too  late  to  prevent  delays  in  work. 
Again,  the  value  of  a  balance  is  dependent 


273  WORK;.   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

largely  upon  its  availability ;  in  other  words, 
upon  the  ease  with  which  the  desired  infor- 
mation can  be  obtained  from  it.  With  this 
idea  in  mind  I  devised  a  combined  schedule 
for  work  and  a  balance  sheet  that  is  largely 
graphical  in  its  nature.  On  it  dates  are 
represented  by  positions,  and  when  work  is 
not  done  on  consecutive  days  there  are  no 
entries  in  consecutive  positions.  This  prac- 
tice enables  the  superintendent  to  see  at  a 
glance  what  work  is  going  along  properly. 
Such  schedules  can  be  made  out  for  all 
classes  of  work,  and  a  description  of  one  or 
two  will  amply  illustrate  the  principle. 

A  FOUNDRY  SCHEDULE  AND  BALANCE 

Figure  22  represents  such  a  balance  sheet 
and  schedule  for  a  foundry.  At  the  heads  of 
the  various  vertical  columns  are  the  names 
of  the  pieces  to  be  cast,  under  each  is  its  pat- 
tern number,  then,  in  order,  when  the  pattern 
is  due  at  the  foundry,  when  it  is  received, 
the  number  wanted  per  day,  and  the  total 
number  wanted.  Below,  each  column  is  di- 
vided into  two  columns  headed  "Daily"  and 
"Total."  These  are  crossed  by  horizontal 
lines  representing  consecutive  working  days, 


Begin  moulding  not  later  than  date  opposite   upper  red  line 
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273 


274  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

on  each  of  which  are  entered  in  the  proper 
column  the  number  of  pieces  made  that  day 
and  the  total  number  made  to  that  date. 
Each  column  is  crossed  by  two  heavy  red 
lines,  the  upper  one  opposite  the  date  at 
which  the  work  should  be  begun,  and  the 
lower  one  opposite  the  date  at  which  the 
work  should  be  completed.  These  lines  have 
been  very  appropriately  named  ''danger 
lines."  The  positions  of  the  entries  with 
reference  to  these  danger  lines,  and  the 
amounts  of  those  entries,  show  to  what  ex- 
tent the  schedule  is  being  lived  up  to.  If 
the  schedule  is  being  well  followed  the  entries 
are  always  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  red 
lines,  or  above  them. 

Figure  22  represents  a  portion  of  an  actual 
order  showing  how  it  was  filled  in  the  foun- 
dry of  the  Schenectady  Locomotive  Works. 
If  there  is  no  graphical  check  on  the  opera- 
tions of  the  foundry,  the  work  that  is  wanted 
during  a  certain  week  may  be  spread  over 
three  or  four;  such  is  often  the  case,  as  our 
records  show. 

It  is  an  extremely  difficult  matter  for  a 
foreman  to  get  the  work  done  exactly  in  the 
order  it  is  wanted.  For  instance,  if  we  are 
building  two  locomotives  per  day,  each  re- 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  275 

quiring  four  driving  boxes,  it  seems  an  ex- 
tremely difficult  thing  for  him  to  get  every 
clay,  without  fail,  at  least  eight  driving  boxes. 
Why  this  is  so  is  a  psychological  question, 
and  I  can't  explain  it,  but  that  it  is  a  fact  is 
too  well  known  to  admit  of  discussion.  There 
is  a  constant  tendency  when  he  is  rushed  with 
other  work  to  drop  to  six  or  seven,  with  a 
corresponding  decrease  in  output  of  locomo- 
tives. This  tendency  to  give  about  what  is 
wanted  rather  than  exactly  what  is  wanted 
is  the  most  common  obstacle  to  getting  the 
full  output  of  a  plant. 

A  DAILY   BALANCE  AS  A  PERMANENT   EECORD 

This  balance  sheet  shows  not  only  how 
much  work  was  done  each  day,  but  is  a  per- 
manent record  of  exactly  how  the  order  was 
filled,  which  can  be  compared  with  the  record 
of  the  previous  orders  and  is  of  great  value 
in  planning  subsequent  orders.  This  is  best 
illustrated  by  Figure  22,  which  shows  exactly 
where  failure  to  comply  with  the  schedule  oc- 
curred. The  letter  ''P"  entered  in  some  of 
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278  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

the  draftsman  and  not  the  pattern  maker 
who  was  to  blame. 

A   MACHINE-SHOP  BALANCE   AND    SCHEDULE 

Figure  23  is  a  similar  balance  sheet  for 
work  done  in  a  machine  shop  on  a  series  of 
locomotive  frames  and  rails.  The  order  in 
which  the  various  operations  are  to  be  per- 
formed has  been  determined,  and  the  consec- 
utive columns  are  devoted  to  the  operations 
in  their  proper  order.  It  will  be  noted  on 
this  sheet,  which  is  an  actual  record  of  work, 
that  the  consecutive  operations  were  per- 
formed promptly  and  that  there  was  no  seri- 
ous delay. 

Figure  24  represents  a  record  of  the  same 
work  as  it  would  appear  if  the  works  were 
short  of  frame-drilling  capacity,  and  the 
drilling  of  frames  were  not  done  promptly. 
If  it  is  impossible  to  make  up  the  delay  thus 
caused  the  output  is  limited  by  it.  Such 
sheets  show  at  a  glance  where  the  delays  oc- 
cur, and  indicate  what  must  have  our  atten- 
tion in  order  to  keep  up  the  proper  output. 
If  the  delay  is  always  on  the  same  operation 
we  know  that  we  must  either  get  more  output 
from  the  machine  doing  that  work,  or  get 
more  machines. 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  279 

A    GKAPHICAL    BALANCE    AS    A    HISTORY 

A  complete  set  of  such  sheets  for  all  the 
work  in  a  plant  gives  a  complete  schedule 
and  a  daily  record  of  what  is  being  done,  and 
is  of  the  greatest  possible  advantage  if  an 
attempt  is  to  be  made  to  improve  the  condi- 
tions or  increase  the  output  of  the  plant.  In 
fact,  if  the  improvement  in  the  operation  of 
a  plant  is  to  be  made  in  a  scientific  manner, 
exact  knowledge  of  what  is  taking  place  each 
day  is  absolutely  necessary.  Without  it, 
money  is  often  spent  wastefully,  and  but  a 
small  proportion  of  the  desired  results  ob- 
tained. In  large  plants  run  without  such  a 
system  of  balances  it  is  frequently  impossible 
to  tell  just  what  is  holding  back  the  output. 
In  a  case  of  this  kind  the  value  of  such  a  bal- 
ance is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  cost  of 
obtaining  it.  By  using  the  graphical  form  its 
value  is  very  much  increased,  for  the  general 
appearance  of  the  sheet  is  sufficient  to  tell 
how  closely  the  schedule  is  being  lived  up  to. 
Moreover,  such  a  balance  is  a  history  of  the 
way  the  work  went  through  the  shop  and  is 
readily  comparable  with  similar  work  done 
previously  or  subsequently,  thus  enabling  us 
to  form  a  definite  idea  as  to  whether  the 
plant  is  being  run  more  or  less  efficiently. 


280  WORK^    WAGES,   AND    PROFITS 

This  balance  of  work,  or  schedule,  sheet  then 
gives  us  a  daily  analysis  of  how  the  work  is 
progressing,  and  in  its  graphical  form  is  so 
easily  read  that  superintendents  find  it  of 
great  value.  The  man's  record  shows  the 
efficiency  of  each  man,  and  the  two  taken  to- 
gether give  us  the  knowledge,  in  the  clearest 
way,  of  what  should  be  done  to  increase  our 
output. 

VALUE    OF    MAN    EECOKD    AND    BALANCE    NOT    DE- 
PENDENT  UPON    METHOD   OF   COMPENSATION 

It  is  not  the  intention  to  discuss  the  mak- 
ing of  schedules  for  doing  work,  or  the  sub- 
ject of  compensation  for  work  done,  for  the 
keeping  of  a  daily  balance  of  work  done  and 
a  record  of  the  men  doing  it  are  invaluable, 
no  matter  what  the  method  of  compensation. 
In  fact,  I  have  found  the  man's  record  when 
work  was  done  by  the  day  to  be  of  the  high- 
est value,  for  when  men  realize  that  not  only 
their  chance  for  increase  of  wages,  but  that 
of  holding  their  positions,  depends  upon  the 
amount  and  quality  of  their  work,  they  be- 
come very  much  more  efficient.  Add  to  this 
the  fact  that  efficient  men,  paid  in  proportion 
to  their  efficiency,  are  invariably  better  satis- 
fied than  less  efficient,  cheaper  men,  and  we 


A  PRACTICAL  EXAMPLE  281 

have  an  added  reason  for  keeping  the  man's 
record.  Again,  a  workman  easily  forgets 
how  many  days  he  has  been  absent,  and  how 
much  poor  work  he  has  done,  and  an  occa- 
sional glance  at  his  record  often  does  him  a 
great  deal  of  good.  I  first  kept  such  a  rec- 
ord in  the  foundry  of  the  Midvale  Steel  Com- 
pany over  twenty  years  ago,  and  found  it  so 
valuable  that  I  have  always  done  it  since 
when  possible. 

The  question  is  frequently  asked  as  to  the 
cost  of  keeping  these  records  and  balances. 
In  reply  I  have  to  say  that  if  such  cost  were 
ten  times  what  it  is,  it  would  cut  no  figure. 

In  day  work  we  buy  a  man's  time,  and  he 
frequently  gives  but  little  else.  Our  store- 
keeper checks  exactly  the  materials  we  buy, 
but  nobody  knows  exactly  what  the  day  work- 
man has  done  in  the  hours  paid  for.  Although 
we  know  labor  to  be  the  most  difficult  com- 
modity we  have  to  buy,  we  give  it  the  least 
systematic  study,  and  any  effort  to  get  an 
exact  record  of  what  we  get  for  our  money  is 
the  first  step  toward  purchasing  it  in  an  in- 
telligent manner.  With  regard  to  the  balance 
of  work,  I  can  only  say  that  it  is  hard  to  esti- 
mate the  cost  of  lack  of  harmony  in  a  plant, 
and  the  increase  of  efficiency  produced  by  get- 


283 


WORK,   WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 


IN 

OUT 

. 

ORDER  NO. 

MAN'S  No.'          Win 

MAN'S    NAME 

DRAWING  Np. 

STMBOL 

TIMC 
ALLOWED 

TIME                                             • 
TAKEN 

MAOHINE  NO. 

BONUS 

RATE 

BONUS 

LABOR 

PAY  FOR 

WAGES 

OESCRIPTION  OF  WORK 

OPVL 

HO.  OF 

'^^' 

WAAM 

* 

ENTEREO   IN 

1    HAVX  INSPtCTeO  THE  WORK  RClPRESENTED    8YTHC  ASOVC 
ENTRIES  1  NO    BELIEVE   THEM    BOTH  TO  BE  CORRECf. 

►•r 

B«E£T 

KCOM 

at 

NC    BOSS 

DM8                                                                                                  n*  an^fnterini  JCoffOifM 

FIG.    25.       TIME    CARD    FOR    A    MACHI.NE    SHOP 

ting  materials  in  their  proper  order  rather 
than  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  vari- 
ous foremen  is  greater  than  is  usually 
realized. 

The  value  of  a  balance  of  some  sort  is  too 
well  understood  to  need  discussion,  and  the 
only  reason  that  it  has  not  been  adopted  is 
often  the  fancied  cost  of  getting  it.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  all  I  have  suggested  is  so 
closely  allied  to  the  time  and  cost  keeping 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE 


283 


that  when  all  are  done  together  by  the  best 
modern  method  the  cost  is  not  great,  al- 
though it  does  cost  money  to  change  from 
one  system  to  another,  and  the  systems  in 
general  nse  are  not  at  all  suitable  for  this 
purpose.  The  method  referred  to  is  the 
"time  and  production  card"  system,  under 
which  a  man  usually  receives  for  each  job  a 
card  which  is  stamped  w^ith  the  time  of  issu- 
ing and  of  returning. 


REO-n 
ISS'O 

OHARQE 
SYMBOL 

OPER«,VES        p       ^ 

OPERATIVE'S  NAME 

MACHINE 
NO. 

TIME 
ALLOWED 

TIME 
TAKEN 

OPERATION 

BONUS 

RATE 

CLOCK  READING 

FIRST 

PAY  rOR 

WAGES 

LAST 

IF   V^ORKINC    ON   BONUS 
CROSS    OUT  THIS    (C 

LABOR 

DIFFERENCE 

IF   WORKING    ON   LABOR 
CROSS    OUT  THIS     03" 

BONUS 

YARDS 

DETAIL  OF  WORK  ON  BACK 

ENTERED  IN 

TH 
BE 

■  HAVE  INSPECTED  THE  WORK    REPRESENTED    BY 
ABOVE    ENTRIES  AND    BELIEVE    THEM    BOTH   TO 
COnHECT.     SIGNED    BY 

'""• 

MKcono 

*      PAT 

,";.% 

f] 

EPARTMENT    D  4    ca"  o 

Ttui  Engineering  Aoyutn* 

FIG.    26.       TIME    CAUD    USED    IN    A    BLEACHEKY 


284 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  285 

Figures  25  and  26  on  pages  282  and  283 
are  examples  of  time  cards. 

These  sample  cards  are  stamped  with  the 
time  work  begins  and  are  taken  from  a  card 
rack,  Figure  27,  as  the  men  come  in  at  the 
beginning  of  the  work  period.  If  it  is  desired 
to  know  the  time  on  different  operations,  the 
cards  are  returned  to  the  time  keeper  at  the 
end  of  such  operations  and  stamped  with  the 
time.  A  fresh  card  stamped  at  the  same  time 
is  given  to  the  workman.  At  the  end  of  the 
work  period  the  workmen  place  their  cards 
in  the  rack  as  they  go  out. 

TIME    AND    man's    RECORD 

In  order  to  get  a  record  of  the  man's  time 
and  work  for  the  day,  all  the  cards  bearing 
his  number  must  be  gotten  together.  If  these 
do  not  give  a  total  of  the  full  number  of  work- 
ing hours,  the  first  card  of  the  day  must  show 
that  he  was  late,  or  there  must  be  a  pass  stat- 
ing the  time  he  went  out.  These  passes 
should  be  of  the  same  size  as  the  cards,  and 
be  put  in  with  the  time  cards  and  sorted  out 
by  the  man's  number,  so  that  when  the  clerk 
begins  to  enter  the  time  and  record  he  will 
have  all  the  necessary  information  for  this 
purpose  at  hand. 


386  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

COST 

To  get  the  cost  on  an  order  the  cards  are 
then  sorted  by  ''order  number"  and  when 
the  clerk  begins  to  enter  up  the  time  or  wages 
against  any  order,  he  should  have  before  him 
all  the  cards  representing  work  on  that  order. 
He  is  thus  enabled  to  make  the  final  entry 
directly  from  the  cards,  thus  doing  the  work 
with  a  minimum  of  clerical  labor. 

The  total  cost  of  the  clerks  employed  in 
store-keeping,  time-keeping,  cost-kee^Ding  and 
the  keeping  of  all  records  needed  for  the 
schedule  and  production  sheets  is  in  some 
cases  as  low  as  5  per  cent  of  the  total  pay- 
roll, and  in  the  ordinary  factory  should  not 
be  over  8  per  cent. 

PEOGEESS  OF  PRODUCTION 

To  get  a  record  of  the  work  on  any  order, 
the  cards  which  have  been  sorted  out  by 
order  number  are  further  sorted  by  name 
of  part  and  operation.  We  thus  get  together 
the  cards  showing  on  an  order  the  number 
of  pieces  on  which  a  certain  operation  has 
been  finished  that  day.  These  are  added  up 
and  entered  directly  on  the  schedule  sheet. 
By  this  method  we  can  keep  an  intelligible 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  287 

record  of  all  the  work  done  with  a  minimum 
of  clerical  labor. 

DIFFICULTY   OF    GETTING    A    DAILY   BALANCE 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  purpose  I  have 
in  mind  to  dwell  further  on  the  details,  my 
object  being  only  to  show  that  the  difficulty 
of  getting  this  daily  record  of  our  men  and 
a  balance  of  the  work  done  is  not  so  great  as 
to  be  prohibitory.  In  other  words,  it  is  an 
entirely  feasible  thing  to  know  exactly  all 
that  has  been  done  in  a  large  plant  one  day 
before  noon  of  the  next,  and  to  get  a  complete 
balance  of  work  in  order  to  lay  out  that  after- 
noon in  a  logical  manner  the  work  for  the 
next  day. 

VALUE    OF    A    SCHEDULE    AND    BALANCE 

The  value  of  such  a  balance  consists  in  the 
fact  that  it  makes  clear  details  that  no  ob- 
server, however  keen  he  may  be,  can  see  by 
inspection.  It  shows  us  what  work  is  behind 
and  how  much,  and  enables  us  to  trace  to  its 
source  the  cause  of  any  delay.  The  super- 
intendent sees  at  a  glance  what  he  never 
could  find  out  by  observation  or  by  asking 
questions.  It  shows  him  how  efficiently  a 
plant  is  being  run  and  where  the  defects  in 


288  WORK,   WAGES,  AND  PROFITS 

operation  are.  In  connection  with  the  man's 
record,  it  is  the  most  complete  analysis  we 
can  make  of  the  working  of  a  plant,  and  the 
one  that  will  help  us  most  quickly  to  bring 
into  their  proper  channels  things  that  have 
gone  haphazard.  Such  an  analysis  is  far 
more  important  than  an  improved  tool  steel 
or  a  new  set  of  piece  rates,  for  it  enables 
those  in  authority  to  see  each  day  how  their 
orders  are  being  carried  out. 

ACCOUNTING  AND   OPERATION 

It  is  my  opinion  that  we  can  do  nothing  in 
a  manufacturing  plant  that  will  go  so  far 
toward  increasing  the  output,  or  the  economy 
of  operation,  as  obtaining  this  exact  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  being  done.  The  cost  of  get- 
ting it  is  not  great  and  the  method  of  opera- 
tion need  not  be  disturbed  in  the  least  until 
accumulation  of  knowledge  points  out  the 
best  course  to  pursue. 

By  the  adoption  of  the  methods  outlined 
the  accounting  department  ceases  to  be  sim- 
ply a  critic  of  the  manufacturing,  and  be- 
comes an  active  assistant  to  every  foreman 
and  to  the  superintendent.  In  other  words, 
the  accounts  cease  to  be  simply  records  of 
production,   and  become   potent  factors   in 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  289 

helping     the     producing     departments     to 
greater  efiSciency. 

SCHEDULE    SYSTEM 

The  instruction  card  is  really  a  detail 
schedule  which  represents  our  best  knowledge 
of  the  method  and  speed  of  doing  work. 
Hence,  this  whole  system  of  manufacture, 
viewed  from  this  standpoint,  is  a  schedule 
system,  and  may  be  likened  to  the  system  of 
operating  trains  on  a  railroad.  The  train 
despatcher  is  the  center  of  such  a  system 
on  a  railroad,  and  the  head  of  the  ''planning 
office"  where  all  our  schedules  originate  and 
records  are  kept  has  a  similarly  important 
job.  It  is  his  business  to  keep  the  routine 
operations  of  the  factory  going  on  the  lines 
that  have  been  laid  down,  and  if  he  does  his 
work  properly,  an  advance  once  made  should 
never  be  lost.  He  is  strictly  a  routine  man, 
and  carries  out  the  instructions  of  the  super- 
intendent and  the  other  experts,  who  study 
all  problems  and  determine  methods  of  solv- 
ing them. 

ROUTINE  AND  EXPERT  WORK 

All  work  may  be  divided  into  these  two 
general  classes,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact 


290  WORK,    WAGES,   AND   PROFITS 

that  the  vast  majority  of  men  may  be  di- 
vided into  similar  classes.  We  sometimes 
find  a  man  who  can  do  equally  well  either 
kind  of  w^ork,  but  this  is  rare.  As  a  rule  a 
man  prefers  either  to  follow  instructions  day 
after  day,  or  finds  it  very  irksome  to  follow 
instructions  at  all.  The  first  man  usually  be- 
comes a  good  routine  man;  the  second  may 
become  an  expert  if  he  has  honesty,  ability  to 
think,  and  industry.  Such  men  become  art- 
ists, designers,  engineers,  investigators,  and 
inventors.  They  are  the  men,  such  as  Watt, 
Fulton,  Stephenson,  Whitney,  Edison,  and  a 
host  of  others,  wdio  are  primarily  respon- 
sible for  the  civilization  of  today.  It  is  of 
the  greatest  importance  that  such  men 
should  be  properly  trained  and  utilized. 

If  such  a  man  has  honesty  and  industry, 
but  no  ability,  he  is  apt  to  spend  his  time 
making  useless  inventions.  If  he  has  honesty 
and  ability,  but  no  industry,  he  is  very  apt 
to  spend  his  time  telling  other  people  what 
they  should  do.  If  he  has  ability  and  indus- 
try, but  no  honesty,  he  has  in  him  the  making 
of  a  bank  wrecker,  or  a  burglar,  as  the  op- 
portunity offers. 

Our  manufacturers  have  given  too  little 
attention  in  the  past  to  this  kind  of  man,  and, 


A   PRACTICAL   EXAMPLE  291 

instead  of  guiding  liim,  liave  too  often  re- 
pressed liim,  to  their  own  detriment  as  well 
as  his.  A  proper  system  of  management 
recognizes  that  many  men  belong  to  this  gen- 
eral class,  and  makes  provision  for  utilizing 
them. 

GENERAL  PRINCIPLES   AND   DETAILS 

While  this  chapter  has  necessarily  been  de- 
voted largely  to  general  principles,  I  have 
shown  enough  details  to  give  a  general  idea 
of  the  system  advocated,  which  is  one  in 
which  the  manager  takes  the  responsibility 
for  managing  instead  of  "putting  it  up"  to 
someone  else. 

While  the  idea  is  simple,  it  has  taken  a 
vast  amount  of  work  to  make  the  method  of 
carrying  it  out  sufficiently  simple  to  be  prac- 
ticable on  a  large  scale.  The  attempt  to 
carry  this  out  in  a  large  variety  of  plants 
during  the  past  fifteen  years  has  resulted  in 
developing  many  methods  that  are  common 
to,  or  similar  in,  all  kinds  of  manufacture. 
This  varied  experience  has  greatly  helped 
us  to  simplify  our  methods,  and  those  that 
undertake  to  carry  out  this  general  idea  with- 
out developing  shorter  methods  than  the 
writer  has  usually  found  in  vogue  will  soon 


292  WORK,   WAGES,    AND   PROFITS 

be  floundering  in  a  hopeless  maze  of  detail,  as 
many  have  done  in  the  past.  These  are  the 
men  who  are  wasting  so  much  energy  today 
telling  us  that  this  work  can 't  be  done. 

The  failure  of  one  man  is  no  indication 
that  all  men  will  fail,  and  the  energy  wasted 
in  attempting  to  prove  such  a  proposition 
almost  tempts  me  to  offer  the  following  ad- 
vice given  by  a  celebrated  professor  to  a 
student  who  was  always  trying  to  tell  why 
things  could  not  be  done:  ''You  had  better 
be  careful;  some  damn  fool  will  come  along 
some  day  and  do  it." 


INDEX 


INDEX 


tccoiinting  and  operation, 
288;  department  potent 
factor  in  efficient  produc- 
tion, 28S 

^r^curacy  of  thought  ac- 
quired, "223 

Advancement — Chance  for, 
89 

American  Locon,ot\ve  Com- 
pany, 68,  70;  Society  of 
Mechanical  Engi/ibers,  87, 
111,  149 

Analysis  of  details  esson.<ial  to 
efficiency,  23;  of  each  joih, 
with  instructions,  42;  or' 
operation  into  elements, 
41,  95,  257;  of  machine 
work,  263;  of  work  im- 
portant and  feasible,  287, 
288;  of  work's  progress, 
280 

Antagonism  between  em- 
ployer and  employee,  20; 
means  conflict,  54;  can  be 
overcome,  55 

Appliances,  definite,  for  task, 
149;  for  work,  256;  if 
adequate,  increase  out- 
put, 23 

Apprentice  system,  98,  238; 
founded  on  sound  prin- 
ciples, 239 

Arbitration,  Board  of,  tem- 
porary expedient  based  on 
superficial  knowledge,  21; 
useful  in  averting  a  crisis, 
28 


Association,  Employers',  20; 
organized  to  oppose 
Union  demands,  27 

Attraction  of  better  work- 
men, 30     . 

Average  workman  does  only 
two-thirds  task  at  first,  43 

Balance,  graphical,  as  his- 
tory, 279 

Balance  sheet  for  machine- 
shop  work,  278 

Balancing  work  daily,  271 

Barth,  Carl  G.,  improved 
slide  rule,  262,  263 

Benefits  derived  from  de- 
tailed investigation,  30; 
of  task-setting  explained 
to  men,  134;  to  employer 
and  employees,  166 

fiiethlehem  Steel  Company 
^49;  fixed  bonus,  114 
eopl  unloaders,  71,  72 
eifici'^ncy  methods,  104 
individual  records  stan- 
dardiijea,  70;  instruction 
cards,  265;  machine 
shop,  bonus  results,  108; 
output  inorefsed,  112; 
system  at  Macnine  Shop 
No.  2,  265;  taok  ond  bonus 
introduced,  70,  263;  works 
closed  by  drive  system, 
113 

Bleachery,  folding  room,  192- 
194;  methods,  138-141;  in 
Rhode  Island,  207,  208; 
reorganized,  212 


295 


296 


INDEX 


Bleaching  processes,  139 

Bluffing  methods  not  effec- 
tive, 162 

Bonus — See  Task  and  Bonus 

Bonus  System  of  Rewarding 
Labor,  148 

Bosses  as  servants  and  teach- 
ers, 157 

Breakdowns  infrequent  under 
bonus  system,  109 

Buj-ing  labor  an  important 
operation,  44,  without  re- 
gard to  quaUty,  66 

Capital  tied  up  by  desultory 
work,  133 

Capitalist  less  liberal  than 
workman,  56 

Captains  of  industrj',  227 

Carnegie,  Andrew,  recognized 
value  of  increased  product, 
216,  242 

Character  of  work  determines 
additional  pay  for  effi- 
ciency, 29 

Charts,  explained,  187;  list  of, 
16;  sources  of,  3 

Children,  standard  method 
of  teaching  is  task  system, 
121,  122 

Citizenship  improved,  203 

Class  wage  badly  gauged 
lowers  tone  of  shop,  60 

Classif  j-ing  expert  knowledge, 
169;  work  simplifies  it, 
132 

Clean  machines  for  best  re- 
sults, 109 

Clerical  work  least  efficient 
in  factor^',  217 

Combinations,  industrial,  227 

Community  benefited  by  en- 
gineers' work,  19;  differ- 
ence between  savage  and 
civilized  is  in  laws,  52;  in- 
fluenced by  habits  of 
shop,    221;    moral    tone 


lowered  by  resort  to  force, 
67 

Compensation  (See  Wages) 

Competition,  difficulty  of 
meeting,  22;  reduced,  227 

Complaints  analyzed,  210 

Conditions  governing  new 
work  studied  in  advance, 
86;  in  manufacturing  in- 
dustries, development  of, 
21;  necessary  for  best  re- 
sults, 40 

Confidence  inspired  by  task 
demonstration,  108;  in 
superiors  a  result  of  train- 
ing, 155;  of  men  won  by 
adequate  pay, 110 

Congestion  disappears  under 
planning,  132 

CoiLsideration  for  workmen 
by  management,  197 

Conspiracies  for  restraint  of 
trade,  234 

Control  of  factory  by  one 
man  impossible,  22 

Co-operation  among  employ- 
ers to  uphold  prices,  229, 
237;  assured  by  task  and 
bonus,  203;  between  em- 
ployers and  emploj'ees, 
19,  20,  220;  foremen  and 
workmen,  143;  gained  by 
force  is  unstable.  111;  in 
h\'ing  up  to  standards. 
166;  Uke  that  of  foot-ball 
team,  249;  of  good  men  by 
adequate  pay,  110,  240; 
of  workmen  in  fixing  rate, 
88;  by  management  in- 
creases output,  209;  of 
men  under  bonus  system, 
110;  of  strong  manage- 
ment with  workmen,  219: 
to  study  economies,  237 

Cost  keeping  system,  270;  in 
a  cotton  mill,  171,  175 


INDEX 


297 


Cost  of  changing  systems, 
249;  daily  balance,  279; 
discord,  281 ;  initial  inves- 
tigation, 29;  living  in- 
creased by  higher  selling 
price,  231 ;  low  wages  more 
than  cost  of  high  wages, 
48;  manufacturing  re- 
duced, 169;  order  ob- 
tained, from  cards,  286; 
product  decreased,  30; 
record-keeping  negligible, 
281;  selling  reduced,  227 

Cost  reduction,  216;  by  Tay- 
lor system,  149;  increases 
profits,  231 ;  through  study 
of  men  and  processes,  233 

Costs,  elements  affecting,  241 ; 
increased  by  horizontal 
wage  increase,  234 

Cotton-finishing  industry  im- 
proved by  uniform  bleach- 
ing, 141 

Cotton  mill,  efficiency  work, 
175;  example  of  results  of 
training  in,  91,  92 

Crane  service  improved  by 
bonus  system,  109 

Crimes  to  prevent  exposure 
of  irregularities,  125 

Daily  Balance,  A  Graphical, 
87,  269;  difficulty  of  get- 
ting, 287;  in  graphical 
form,  279;  two  sets,  271 

Day  rate,  how  regulated,  65; 
paid  when  the  task  is  not 
completed,  114;  perma- 
nent, bonus  extra,  255; 
plus  percentage,  158; 
raised  in  accordance  with 
records,  66 

Day  work,  61,  65-73,  165; 
competently  planned  in- 
creases efficiency,  67;  de- 
fined, 65;  for  unskilled, 
114;  two  classes,  ordinary 


and  planned,  65;  with  in- 
dividual efficiency  records, 
67;  uniform  wage  de- 
creases efficiency  of,  66 

Day's  task,  28 

Decrease  in  cost  through  sci- 
entific investigation,  30; 
in  efficiency,  fault  of  man- 
agement, 60,  61 

Delays  limit  output,  278 

Demonstration  of  task,  108 

Departments  of  factories,  22 

Detail  analysis,  263;  essen- 
tial to  efficiency,  23;  of 
elements  of  piece  work, 
82,  87;  study  belongs  to 
engineer,  237 

Devices  for  labor-saving  less 
useful  without  co-opera- 
tion, 20 

Differential  piece  rate,  107 

Direct  results  of  bonus  sys- 
tem, 108 

Directing  workmen  intelli- 
gently increases  output,  23 

Distrust  of  new  methods,  23, 
24 

Drive  system,  113;  creates 
progressive  opposition, 
110;  eliminated  by  bonus 
system,  109 

Dye  works  remodeled,  212 

Earle,  E.  P.,  suggested  bonus 
to  gang  boss,  107 

Earnings  in  good  times  should 
provide  best  apparatus 
made,  35 

Economical  operation  unu- 
sual with  man  left  to  him- 
self, 41;  utilization  of 
labor  is  manager's  great- 
est problem,  19 

Economies,  co-operation  for 
studying,  237;  effected, 
213;  shown  to  oe  feasible, 
24;  through  exact  knowl- 


298 


INDEX 


edge,  288;  of  industrial 
combinations,  227,  229 

Educational  system  with 
prizes,  256;  value  of  task- 
setting  principles,  150 

Efficiency  an  economic  fac- 
tor, 235;  becomes  general 
through  habits  of  work, 
221;  dependent  on  har- 
mony of  operations,  94, 
95;  impaired  by  increas- 
ing difficulty  of  task,  92; 
impossible  without  co- 
operation, 20;  individual 
records  necessary  to,  60; 
in  workroom  a  habit,  186; 
increase  raises  standard, 
162;  increased  by  co-oper- 
ation, 19,  20;  by  giving 
workman  share  in  bene- 
fit, 23;  by  individual 
records,  60,  69,  280;  by 
planning  order  of  work, 
126;  by  proper  appliances, 
23;  by  direction  of  work- 
men, 23;  by  scheduling, 
127;  by  system,  84;  lost  by 
changing  system  without 
training  men,  7;  of  labor 
increasing,  167;  of  opera- 
tions determined  by  scien- 
tific study,  36;  permanent- 
ly maintained,  23;  pro- 
gressive, 221 ; should  reach 
maximum  before  plant  is 
enlarged,  245;  work  in 
cotton  mill,  175 

Efficient  doing  becomes  fixed 
habit,  154;  man  ade- 
quately paid  will  not  join 
inefficient  men,  104;  men 
object  to  inefficient  sys- 
tem, 71;  wiU  not  join 
union  unless  benefited, 
73;  operation  of  small 
plant,  245;  shoveling,  37- 


39;  system  impossible 
without  systematic  man- 
ager, 86;  utilization  of 
labor,  24,  33;  work  de- 
manded by  high  wages, 
34;  work,  four  conditions 
necessary,  40;  workmen 
distinguished  from  others 
by  records,  58 

Elements  of  successful  sys- 
tem, 116 

Elementary  operations  fewer 
than  complex  ones,  41; 
study  of,  41 

Employer  and  employee,  co- 
operation between,  20; 
equity  between,  27,  33; 
mutually  beneficial  ar- 
rangements, 33;  relations 
between,  20;  benefited  by 
co-operation,  166 

Employers  responsible  for 
labor  unions,  73,  78,  81 

Encouragement  of  industry 
by  adequate  pay,  186 

Engineer  scientifically  trained 
an  economic  factor,  235 

Engineers,  mechanical,  should 
study  men  and  machines, 
235 

Equipment,  poor,  prevents 
efficient  work,  34;  kept  up 
to  date  out  of  earnings, 
35 

Errors  in  machining  reduced, 
108 

Essentials  of  piece-work  sys- 
tem, 82 

Estimate  by  busy  foreman 
inaccurate,  80 

Evasion  of  laws  by  trusts,  52; 
patent  laws,  53 

Excavating,  example  of  in- 
creased efficiency,  70 

Exertion  stimulated  by  vary- 
ing wages,  60 


INDEX 


299 


Expense  made  excessive  by 
management,  22;  of  de- 
lays and  interferences 
eliminated,  127;  of  inves- 
tigation, 29;  of  record- 
keeping, 70,  71;  of  train- 
ing workmen — who  should 
bear  it?  98;  overhead,  216, 
242;  reduced  by  analysis 
of  details,  23 

Expert,  essential  qualities  of, 
84;  helped  by  standardiz- 
ing knowledge,  169;  knowl- 
edge defined,  161;  makes 
poor  foreman,  84;  me- 
chanic personally  direct- 
ing employees,  22;  super- 
vision of  machine  work, 
105;  work,  161 

Experts,  corps  recruited  from 
workmen,  83;  for  every- 
thing but  labor-buying,  44 

Extra  pay  for  man  doing 
task  in  set  time  and  way, 
82,  91;  men  supplying 
materials  for  bonus  win- 
ner, 82,  91 

Factory  divided  into  depart- 
ments, 22;  one-man  con- 
trol impossible,  22;  un- 
trained foreman  in,  22; 
system,  98,  238 

Failure  to  get  permanent  ef- 
ficiency, 110 

Fallacy  that  good  work  must 
be  done  slowly,  153 

Force  not  a  basis  for  good 
management,  111;  sub- 
stitute for  knowledge,  28; 
prevented  by  assurance  of 
equitable  pay,  81 ;  used  by 
unions,  57 

Forces,  scientific  investiga- 
tion discovers,   19 

Foreman  becomes  friend  in- 
stead of  driver,  115;  be- 


comes instructor  under 
bonus  system,  109,  114; 
executive,  not  expert,  83; 
has  bonus  in  proportion 
to  men  earning  it,  256; 
given  manager's  problem 
to  solve,  97;  too  busy  to 
make  detail  investiga- 
tions, 83 

Foremen  and  workmen  mu- 
tually interested,  143 

Forms  and  blanks  are  means 
to  an  end,  8 

Foundry  schedule  and  bal- 
ance, 272 

Frictional  lag  changed  by 
bonus,  170 

Fundamental  principles  of 
success  in  machine  shop, 
108-110 

Gain  in  efficiency  of  work- 
men, 23 

Gang  boss,  157;  gets  bonus 
for  each  man  earning 
bonus,  107;  helps  poor 
workmen,  156 

Gangs,  large  ones  decrease 
efficiency,  72 

Gauging  amount  of  work 
done  by  each  man  diffi- 
cult, 58 

Good  faith,  workman's  con- 
fidence in  employer's,  94; 
in  management  reduces 
number  of  mistakes,  47 

Government,  self,  20,  73 

Graft  efiminated  under  scien- 
tific methods,  125 

Graphical  Balance  as  His- 
tory, 279;  Daily  Bal- 
ance in  Manufacture,  87, 
269 

Guess-work  in  estimating 
rates,  80 

Habit  of  shop  influences  com- 
munity,  221;    working 


300 


INDEX 


promptly  and  well  a  val- 
uable asset,  154 

Habits  of  industry  (See  Hab- 
its of  Work) ;  of  truth  and 
honesty,  171;  of  work, 
153;  acquired,  182;  con- 
crete examples  of,  175; 
improved,  203;  more  im- 
portant than  the  work 
itself,  221;  produce  gen- 
eral efficiency,  221;  valu- 
able, 147 

Harmonizing  elements  upon 
which  efficiency  depends, 
94 

Health  improved  by  bonus 
system,  152;  by  mastery 
of  task,  224 

High-speed  steel  reduces 
time,  138 

High  wages  demand  efficient 
work,  34 ;  for  efficient  man 
better  than  low  wages  for 
inefficient  man,  97 

Horizontal  wage  system,  58; 
results  in  labor  unions, 
103;  in  employers'  asso- 
ciations, 103 

Immigrants  trained  to  habits 
of  work,  221 

Improvements  in  non-met- 
al working  industries, 
141;  indicated  by  scienti- 
fic investigation,  150, 
151;  shown  to  be  feasible, 
24 

Improving  plant,  35;  quality 
of  product,  30;  system  of 
management,  35 

Incentive  greater  with  per- 
centage than  fixed  bonus, 
114;  to  good  work  auto- 
matic, 109 

Inconsistencies  in  day-work 
plan,  65-78;  piece-work 
plan,  79;  revealed  by  sci- 


entific investigation  of 
processes,  156 

Increase  of  efficiency  essen- 
tial to  increase  of  wages, 
40;  continued  success,  60; 
first  problem  in,  94;  makes 
high  wages  possible,  47; 
manager's  problem,  60; 
must  be  systematic,  84 

Increased  output  result  of 
scientific  investigation,  30 

Increased  wages  demand 
maintenance  of  efficiency, 
33,  40;  for  increased  effi- 
ciency, 70,  71;  not  chief 
feature  of  Mr.  Gantt's 
methods,  3,  4;  under  task 
system,  207;  without  in- 
dividual record  make 
trouble,  65,  66 

Individual  records,  expense 
exceeded  by  results,  70, 
71;  in  foundry,  69;  neces- 
sary to  efficiency,  60; 
standardized,  70;  usually 
not  kept,  58;  with  corre- 
sponding pay  bring  confi- 
dence and  loyalty,  78 

Individual  study  requires 
marked  ability,  232;  work 
better  when  planned,  128 

Inducement  to  perform  task, 
122 

Industrial  combinations,  227; 
conditions  interpreted,  6; 
development,  history  of, 
21;  success  due  to  patent 
laws,  53;  Workers  of  the 
World,  191,  199;  attack 
cotton  mills,  192;  incite 
Lawrence  strike,  199 

Industry,  Habits  of  (See 
Habits  of  Work);  make 
knowledge  and  skill  valu- 
able, 147 

Inefficient    plant    deaiga    or 


INDEX 


301 


equipment  prevents  effi- 
cient work,  34;  workman 
demoralized  by  too  high 
wages,  60;  made  efficient, 
104 

Inspection,  careful,  improves 
work,  167;  made  easy,  191; 
of  woven  materials,  191, 
192 

Inspectors  earn  bonus,  191 

Instruction  card  for  crank 
shaft,  264;  drilling  cyhn- 
der,  267;  forging  to  be 
rough-machined,  262; 
lathes,  264;  permanent 
piece  rates,  259;  planing 
locomotive  frames,  265; 
workmen,  255 

Instruction  cards  in  machine 
shop,  261;  must  be  ac- 
curate, 255;  turn  laborers 
into  efficient  machine 
hands,  108 

Instructions  and  training, 
basis  of  system,  117;  as  to 
elementary  operations  re- 
paid by  results,  42;  em- 
bodying best  knowledge 
obtainable,  261 

Instructor  and  bonus  estab- 
lish permanent  standard, 
161;  constantly  on  hand, 
157;  for  practical  appUca- 
tion  of  investigation,  151; 
not  necessarily  investiga- 
tor, 158;  shares  responsi- 
bility for  doing  task,  136; 
shows  men  how  to  do  work 
in  time  set,  255;  teaches 
one  man  at  a  time,  157, 
158 ;  teaches  workmen 
best  methods,  40;  with 
stop-watch  asked  for,  155 

Instructor's  job  for  workman 
who  often  exceeds  task,  88 

Intelligent  action  based  on 


facts,  221;  direction  of 
men  increases  output,  23 

Interest  in  work  makes  it  less 
tiring,  152 

Introduction,  3;  of  task  sys- 
tem, 168 

Investigation  expensive  but 
profitable,  29;  in  detail  of 
each  job,  82,  116;  of  lost 
bonus  invariable,  137, 
163,  170;  materials  and 
forces,  19;  use  of  results 
of,  29;  work  by  best 
available  expert  160. 
(See  also  Scientific  Inves- 
tigation). 

Investigator  if  necessary  be- 
comes instructor,  135; 
should  be  most  expert 
workman  available,  88 

Investigator's  duty  to  devel- 
op methods  and  set  tasks, 
159 

Investigators  become  super- 
intendents, 162 

Knowledge  cannot  be  re- 
placed by  force,  28;  of 
best  methods,  appliances 
and  materials,  40;  of  ma- 
terials and  forces,  19 

Labor-buying  important,  44; 
intelligent,  281;  key  to, 
44^6;  regardless  of  qual- 
ity, 66 

Labor  of  bleaching  reduced, 
140;  -saving  devices,  testi- 
mony of,  19;  use  of,  im- 
paired, 20;  troubles  elim- 
inated by  bonus  system, 
113 

Labor  unions,  20,  27;  advance 
poor  workman  and  good 
equally,  57;  bring  collec- 
tive bargaining,  demands, 
strikes,  78;  cannot  always 
keep    up    day   rater    ^'^' 


302 


INDEX 


cannot  permanently  solve 
problem  of  relation  be- 
tween employers  and  em- 
ployees, 20;  have  upheld 
or  increased  price  of  labor, 
229;  idea  of,  57,  58;  must 
be  replaced  by  something 
better,  59;  not  joined  by 
man  not  benefited,  73; 
oppose  improvements, 
238;  prevented  by  assur- 
ance of  equitable  pay,  8 1 ; 
reasons  for  joining,  57; 
resemble  trusts,  54;  result 
of  management,  103; 
strongest  argument  in  fa- 
vor, 59;  injustice,  26 

Laboratory  for  scientific 
study  of  materials  and 
forces,  24 

Lag  changed  to  acceleration, 
170 

Lathes,  instruction  cards  for, 
263 

Lawrence  strike,  199 

Laws  evaded  by  trusts,  52; 
make  difference  between 
savage  and  civilized 
places,  52;  of  manage- 
ment determined  by  sci- 
entific investigation,  27; 
of  metal-cutting  compli- 
cated, 261;  regarding  pat- 
ents have  made  indus- 
trial success,  53 

Liberal  pay  for  efficient  work, 
72,  73 

Liberality  of  workmen  to 
each  other,  56 

List  of  work  in  order  wanted 
aids  foreman,  129 

Location  of  tools,  261 

Locomotives,  task  idea  illus- 
trated, 126 

Looms  with  pick  counters, 
177 


Loss  of  time  between  opera- 
tions, 265 

Low  wages  cost  more  than 
high  wages,  48;  discour- 
age efficient  man,  66 

Loyalty  result  of  individual 
records  and  corresponding 
pay,  78 

Machine  condition  improved 
by  bonus,  109;  operations 
investigated,  263;  record, 
253 

Machine-shop  balance  and 
schedule,  278;  Bethlehem 
Steel  Company,  265;  in- 
struction cards,  261;  op- 
eration, reason  for  delays, 
275;  Taj'lor  methods,  105; 
time  cards,  282 

Machine-work  analysis,  263; 
miscellaneous,  215;  spe- 
ciahzed,  109 

Machinery,  breakdowns  in- 
frequent under  bonus  sys- 
tem, 109;  inferior  or  old- 
fashioned,  causes  inef- 
ficiency, 34;  rearranging, 
95 

Machines  arranged  systema- 
tically for  expert  supervi- 
sion, 105;  automatic  screw, 
213;  clean,  109;  effect  of 
task  on,  109;  for  bleach- 
ery,  140;  good  order  neces- 
sary for  bonus,  187;  idle, 
266;  in  order  before  set- 
ting task,  134 

Maintenance  of  best  methods 
of  work,  39;  of  conditions 
under  which  task  was  set, 
142;  of  definite  degree  of 
efficiency,  39;  of  proper 
conditions,  142;  of  up-to- 
date  equipment  out  of 
earnings,  35 

Management  based  on  force 


INDEX 


303 


breaks  down,  111;  chang- 
ing systems,  249 ;  deterior- 
ation of  system,  241 ;  essen- 
tials to  correct  sj'stem, 
270;  foundation  of  com- 
plete system,  269;  func- 
tion of,  247;  good  system 
a  valuable  asset,  9;  good 
and  poor  contrasted,  47; 
cost  of  acquiring  good,  10; 
in  accordance  with  gen- 
eral principles,  27;  in 
touch  with  work's  prog- 
ress, 170;  inefficient  pre- 
vents good  work,  34; 
must  co-operate  with 
workers,  219;  must  give 
specific  orders  and  see 
them  carried  out,  269; 
must  obey  laws,  171 ;  must 
supply  work  and  train 
workers,  201;  not  perma- 
nent which  does  not  train 
men,  168;  not  workmen 
often  causes  excessive  ex- 
pense, 22;  opposition  of, 
195 ;  proper,  eliminates 
loss,  35;  responsible  for 
delays  and  interferences, 
127;  for  more  than  giving 
orders,  220;  self -perpetu- 
ating system,  162,  240, 
241,  249;  study  and  co- 
operation increase  prod- 
uct, 209;  successful, 
beneficial  to  employers 
and  employees,  20;  system 
which  assures  carrying 
out  of  instructions,  268; 
task  and  bonus  not  entire 
system  of,  266;  training 
workers,  167 

Manager  responsible  for  man- 
aging, 291;  (See  also 
Management) 

Managers  governed  by  gen- 


eral principles,  27;  hesi- 
tate to  adopt  slow  but 
successful  methods,  148; 
learn  by  experience,  201 

Managers'  problems,  19,  20; 
economic  utilization  of 
labor,  19;  given  to  fore- 
men to  solve,  97;  hardest 
is  proper  buying  of  labor, 
44;  increase  of  efficiency, 
20,60 

Man-record,  270;  in  Midvale 
Steel  Foundry,  281 ;  shows 
effect  of  training,  254, 
255;  shows  efficiency  of 
each  man,  280;  usefulness 
not  appreciated,  253,  254; 
value  not  based  on  meth- 
od of  payment,  280 

Man-study  requires  aoility, 
232 

Manufacture,  divisions  and 
subdivisions,  95 

Manufacturers  can  train  their 
own  workmen,  167 

Manufacturing  cost  reduced, 
169 

Mastery  of  any  subject  im- 
proves personal  appear- 
ance, 223  _ 

Materials,  scientific  investi- 
gation gives  knowledge 
of,  19;  used  by  engineer, 
19 

Mechanic,  expert,  should 
train  men,  83 

Mechanics  not  interested  in 
better  methods,  237,  238 

Memory  aided  by  written 
order  of  work,  128,  129 

Metal  Trades  Association, 
National,  26 

Methods,  conservatism  nec- 
essary in  changing,  202; 
of  evolution  in  scientific 
management,  8;  of  pay- 


304 


INDEX 


ing  for  work,  61;  success- 
ful on  small  scale  fail  on 
large,  22;  study  of  condi- 
tions should  precede  adop- 
tion of,  86 ;  universally  ap- 
plicable, 27;  when  familiar, 
adhered  to  though  ineffi- 
cient, 24 

Midvale  Steel  Company  free 
from  labor  troubles,  114; 
Taylor  methods  origina- 
ted in,  104;  foundry  man- 
record,  281 

Mismanagement  usual  cause 
of  strikes,  26 

Mistakes  at  a  minimum,  47 

Misunderstanding  causes  ob- 
jections, 124 

Monday  failures  cured,  186 

Money  well  invested  in  es- 
tablishing scientific  man- 
agement, 117 

Moral  efifect  of  bonus  plan, 
108;  tone  of  shop  lowered 
by  resort  to  force,  67; 
training,  170 

National  Metal  Trades  As- 
sociation, 26 

Natural  method  of  studying 
complex  operation,  41 

Non-metal  working  trades 
can    be    improved,  141 

Obedience  to  orders  first  es- 
sential to  success,  155; 
hard  to  learn,  156 

Obeying  orders,  269 

Object  in  view  makes  work 
less  tiring,  122 

Observation  of  details  aids 
task  determination,  29 

Obstacles  always  encountered , 
195;  disclosed  by  co-oper- 
ation of  workmen,  170;  to 
introduction  of  task  and 
bonus,  163 

Oligarchy  developed,  230 


One-man  control  impossible, 
22 

Operation  of  plants  im- 
paired by  lack  of  co- 
operation, 20 

Operations,  complex  made  up 
of  simple,  257;  method  of 
studying,  31 

Opposition  to  standardiza- 
tion from  incompetent 
managers,  163;  to  work 
for  employer's  benefit 
only,  110 

Order  of  operations  in  ma- 
chine shop,  262 

Order  of  work  in  winding 
bobbins,  184;  planned,  as- 
sis's  foreman,  129;  in- 
creases efficiency,  126 

Output,  Carnegie  recognized 
value  of  increasing,  216, 
242;  explanation  of  small 
interest  in  improving,  232; 
doubled,  210;  increased, 
213;  by  complete  instruc- 
tions, 25;  by  daily  bal- 
ance, 280;  by  exact  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  being  done, 
288;  by  instruction  cards, 
260;  by  intelUgent  direc- 
tions, 23;  by  proper  plan- 
ning and  implements,  142; 
by  proper  ventilation  and 
temperature,  135;  by  sci- 
entific investigation,  30; 
by  skilful  planning,  25; 
by  task  and  bonus,  169, 
205;  by  Taylor  system, 
149;  by  two  hundred  per 
cent,  209;  hmited  by  de- 
layed work,  278;  by  pen- 
aUzing  increased  efiicien- 
cy,  80;  most  common  ob- 
stacle, 275;  not  increased 
in  proportion  to  increased 
pay  under  trusts,  229 


INDEX 


305 


Overhead  expense  defined, 
242 

Passes  for  workmen,  285 

Patent  laws  evaded  by  patent 
lawyers,  53 

Pay  (See  Wages). 

Paying  for  work,  two  meth- 
ods, 61 

Payment  of  bonus,  preferred 
way,  255;  under  task  and 
bonus,  165 

Penalizing  workman  for  in- 
creased efficiency  Umits 
output,  80 

Penalty  for  skill,  80 

Percentage  chart,  207;  of  er- 
rors reduced  by  bonus 
system,  108 

Perception  quickened  by  task, 
224 

Permanent  efficiency,  193 ; 
failure  to  secure,  110;  in- 
crease of  efficiency,  23; 
piece  rates,  259;  in  ma- 
chine shop,  105;  progress 
through  standardizing, 
160;  record  of  each  day's 
work,  275;  solution  of 
problem  must  benefit  all, 
230;  results,  211-213 

Philosophy  of  labor  manage- 
ment, underlying  fact  of, 

.  77 

Piece  rate  accompanied  by 
instructions,  259 

Piece  rates  in  machine  shop, 
105 

Piece  work  for  skilled,  114; 
two  classes  of  79;  system 
should  be  self-perpetuat- 
ing, 83;  six  essentials  of, 
82 

PiUng  of  goods  in  bleachery, 
140 

Planned  order  of  work  aids 
foreman,  128 


Planning  ahead  necessary  for 
individual  records,  70; 
better  than  snap  judg- 
ment, 132;  day's  task,  28; 
of  comphcated  work  nec- 
essary, 25;  properly  in- 
creases output,  142;  with 
intelligence  follows  stand- 
ardization, 169;  work  from 
central  headquarters,  133 

Plans,  carefully  made,  neces- 
sary in  complicated  work, 
30;  with  instructions  in- 
crease efficiency,  100  per 
cent,  25 

Plant  badly  planned  or  poorly 
equipped  inefficient,  34; 
impaired  by  lack  of  co- 
operation though  well- 
designed,  20 

PoUcy  of  delegating  respon- 
sibility to  foremen,  97; 
of  future  to  teach  and  to 
lead,  112,  148;  of  past  to 
drive,  112;  short-sighted, 
34 

Practical  examples  of  scien- 
tific management,  4 

Preface,  7 

Preparation  for  task-setting, 
134 

Prices  and  profits,  227 

Principles  of  efficiency,  27; 
scientific  management,  8; 
training  convincing,  148 

Problem  of  manager,  19,  20; 
is  increase  of  efficiency, 
60;  labor-buying  is  hard- 
est, 44;  of  securing  satis- 
factory help  solved,  167; 
of  setting  task  and  fixing 
reward,  123;  of  studying 
work  simplified,  87 

Product  better  and  cheaper 
where  tasks  are  set,  137; 
decrease  in  cost,  30;  im- 


306 


INDEX 


provement  in  quality, 
30 

Profits  and  prices,  227;  high, 
230;  increase  with  volume 
of  business,  231;  per  unit 
of  output  increased,  231; 
stable  basis  for,  246 

Progress  of  production,  2S6; 
slow  in  estabhshing  effi- 
ciency, 106 

Prosperity  not  based  on  ef- 
ficiency unstable,  247; 
reasons  for  decline  of,  34 

Psychological  effect  of  task, 
143;  facts  of  importance, 
184,  185 

Purchase  of  labor,  intelli- 
gent, 44,  46 

Quality  of  product  improved, 
30;  of  work  better  under 
task  and  bonus,  203;  im- 
proved in  few  weeks,  211; 
and  quantity  of  work,  153 

Quickness  essential  to  good 
work,  153 

Rates  based  on  busy  fore- 
man's  estimate  are 
guesses,  80 

Ratio  of  mechanical  workers 
and  supervisors  changed, 
138;  of  possible  to  actual 
accomplishment,  25 

Record,  daily,  in  balance 
sheet,  279;  of  each  day's 
work,  275;  of  individuals 
unusual,  58;  of  materials 
used  saves  money,  247;  of 
work  on  order,  286;  of 
what  has  been  done,  poor 
indication  of  what  capable 
men  can  do,  79 

Reduction  of  labor  in  bleach- 
ing, 140;  of  manufactur- 
ing cost,  169 

Reforms,  ideal  conditions  for 
instituting,  40 


Regulation  of  day  rate,  65, 
66,  67 

ReUabihty  grows  under  bo- 
nus system,  152 

Reliance  upon  past  progress 
breeds  trouble,  51 

Reorganization  of  bleachery, 
212;  dye  works,  212; 
packing-box  factory,  212; 
sheet  and  pillow-case  fac- 
tory, 199,  210 

Respeeding  machines,  105 

Responsibility  for  doing  task, 
136;  of  management 
shirked  by  most  mana- 
gers, 97 

Results,  207;  chapter  on,  in- 
spired by  inquiry  ad- 
dressed to  author,  4;  of 
bonus  system,  108,  109; 
of  investigation  applied, 
29,  42;  of  task  and  bonus, 
152 ;  of  training  far-reach- 
ing, 175;  ratio  between 
actual  and  possible,  25; 
valueless  if  not  applied, 
151;  worth  striving  for, 
30 

Revolution  justified  only 
when  evolution  is  impos- 
sible, 7 

Reward  beyond  reach  faUs  to 
effect  workman,  136;  for 
following  instructions,  258 

Rewarding  efficient  man,  104; 
Labor,  A  Bonus  System 
of,  148 ;  teacher  and  work- 
man, 117 

''Routing  Diagram"  by 
Charles  Day,  262 

Routing  must  be  right  before 
tasks  are  set,  131 

Routing  of  work,  126,  262; 
supremely  important,  262 

Rules  useless  if  principles  are 
not  understood,  8 


INDEX 


307 


Savings  effected  by  scientific 
management,  246 

Schedule  and  balance  sheet 
combined,  272;  value  of, 
287;  complete  in  balance 
sheet,  279;  (detail)  equiv- 
alent, 265;  system,  289; 
on  paper  only,  130 

Schedules  as  tasks,  125; 
manager  must  know  that 
they  are  followed,  130 

Scheduling,  269;  each  part 
important,  126;  miscel- 
laneous work,  126,  169; 
miscellaneous  work  with- 
out, 143;  standard  work, 
169;  work,  126;  intelli- 
gently comes  after  stand- 
ardizing, 169 

Schenectady  Locomotive 
Works,  274 

Schools,  industrial,  should 
equip  graduates  with  hab- 
its of  industry,  153. 

Schwab,  Charles  M.,  be- 
heved  in  drive  methods, 
113 

Science  applied  to  industry, 
235;  stationary  until  oper- 
ations were  investigated, 
41 

Scientific  investigation,  21; 
alone  solves  problems  re- 
hably,  258;  gives  knowl- 
edge which  eliminates 
chance,  35 ;  has  three  divi- 
sions, 28;  indicates  im- 
provements, 150;  of  de- 
tails reveals  possible  econ- 
omies and  improvements, 
23,  24;  of  machine  opera- 
tions, 263;  of  methods  by 
steel  industry,  246;  of 
operations,  257;  qf  pro- 
cesses not  scientifically 
planned     reveals     incon- 


sistencies, 150;  of  weav- 
ing operations,  176;  only 
method  of  determining 
laws,  27 

Scientific  laboratory  for 
studying  materials  and 
processes,  24 

Scientific  management,  aim 
of,  124;  results  in  profits 
appear  slowly,  248 

Scientific  method  apphed  to 
industrial  problems,  30 

Selfishness,  intelhgent,  shares 
benefits.  111;  as  prompt- 
ing force  is  unintelhgent, 
111 

Self-government,  20,  73 ;  -per- 
petuating system  of  man- 
agement, 162,  240,  241, 
249;  -preservation  motive 
for  joining  union,  59 

Selling  price  fixed  by  agree- 
ment, not  value,  234 ; 
increase  enlarges  profits, 
231;  raises  cost  of  hving, 
231 

Selling  time  more  common 
than  selling  labor,  44 

Sheet  and  pillow-case  fac- 
tory, 199,  200 

Shoveling,  best  method  de- 
termined by  long  series 
tests,  38,  39;  done  un- 
economically,  37;  ele- 
ments composing  each 
operation,  38-41 ;  requires 
study  before  task  is  set, 
37;  standard  of  efficiency 
must  be  maintained  to  se- 
cure increase  in  wages,  39 ; 
things  to  be  determined, 
37,  38 

Skill  not  an  excuse  for  slow 
work,  154 

Skilled  workmen  developed, 
167 


308 


INDEX 


Slide  rule  adapted  to  planers, 
drill  pressers  and  Blotters, 
262;  for  cutting  metals, 
262;  at  Bethlehem  Steel 
Co.,  106,  108 

Societies  to  which  only  bonus 
earners  are  eligible,  166 

SpeciaUzed  machine  shows 
good  results,  109 

Specifications  for  purchase  of 
labor,  46 

Specifying  mode  of  operation, 
158 

Speed  boss  gets  bonus,  107 

Standard  maintained  by  club, 
162;  system  of  teaching 
children,  121,  122;  time 
for  task,  158;  work,  161 

Standardization,  161 ;  helps 
to,  164 

Standardized  appliances  and 
methods,  160 

Standardizing  expert  knowl- 
edge, 169 

Standards  maintained  by  task 
and  bonus,  164;  of  work, 
253;  welcomed  by  cap- 
able men,  164 

State,  should  it  bear  expense 
of  training  workmen,  98 

Steel,  high-speed,  changed 
ratio  of  mechanical  work- 
ers to  supervisors,  138; 
industry,  246 

Stimulus  to  unskilled,  165 

Stop-watch  for  time-study, 
28,  29,  95,  133;  ineffici- 
ently used  rouses  con- 
tempt, 160;  instructor 
asked  for  by  worker,  155; 
used  by  bright  clerk,  159, 
160 

Store-keeping  system,  270 

Strike,  Lawrence,  199 ;  not  all 
bad — may  cause  progress, 
55,  56;  result  of  uniform 


class  wage,  78;  usually 
produced  by  mismanage- 
ment, 26 

Study  in  advance  of  condi- 
tions under  which  work 
is  to  be  done,  86;  of  prin- 
ciples of  training  con- 
vincing, 148 

Superintendent  (See  Manage- 
ment); lax,  discovered  by 
investigator  of  lost  bo- 
nuses, 170 

Supervisor  of  machine  work 
by  experts,  105 

System  of  management,  if 
good,  produces  loyal  men, 
86;  at  fault  for  incon- 
sistent payroll  disburse- 
ments, 77 ;  defined,  1 1 1 ;  on 
paper  only,  130 

Systematic  arrangement  of 
machines,  105;  increase  of 
efficiency  essential  to  suc- 
cess, 60;  manager  adds 
permanently  to  efficiency 
of  plant,  86;  training 
makes  for  general  effici- 
ency, 147;  work  necessary 
for  increased  efficiency, 
84 

Tariff,  247 

Task  and  Bonus  System,  ad- 
ditional bonus  if  aU  ob- 
tain bonus,  115;  affords 
justice  to  employee,  254; 
allows  no  dreaming,  109; 
appliances  in  order  before 
setting  task,  134;  applica- 
tions for,  213;  assigning 
tasks,  169;  at  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works,  70,  104-111, 
112-115,  253;  automatic, 
167;  average  workman 
doqg  only  two-thirds  task 
at  first,  43;  bonus  changes 
frictional  lag  into  acceler- 


INDEX 


309 


Task  and  Bonus  (continued) 
ation,  170;  is  20  to  50  per 
cent  of  day  rate,  135;  on 
written  statement  of  in- 
spector, 169,  170;  to  fore- 
man increased  if  all  men 
make  bonus,  114;  to  gang 
or  speed  boss,  107;  to  men 
doing  set  task,  107;  to 
workers  controls  senti- 
ment, 166;  complaints 
analyzed,  210;  conditions 
must  first  be  right,  198, 
203 ;  co-operative,  203 ; 
cures  Monday  failures, 
186;  cures  Saturday  in- 
efficiency, 190;  cures  wan- 
derlust, 183;  defined,  165; 
delay  in  starting  not  due 
to  workmen,  197;  de- 
scribed, 254;  determining 
method  and  time,  257; 
develops  spirit  of  co-op- 
eration, 143 ;  differs  funda- 
mentally from  ordinary 
piece  work,  261;  discrep- 
ancy between  task  and 
performance,  217;  easy 
tasks  not  undesirable,  218; 
elements  and  influences 
discussed,  121;  eliminates 
driving,  109;  errors  often- 
er  in  office  than  shop,  162 ; 
extra  time  as  percentage 
of  time  allowed,  114;  fac- 
tory task,  143;  foreman 
and  workers  have  mutual 
interest,  143;  foreman  has 
incentive  to  teach  work- 
men, 114;  foreman  is 
friend,  not  driver,  of  men, 
115;  important  to  begin 
slowly,  198;  imposes  tasks 
on  management,  143;  im- 
proves habits  of  work, 
203;    improves    machine 


condition,  109:  improves 
quaUty  of  work,  203,  211; 
improves  wages,  212,  213; 
improves  weaving,  191 ; 
in  bleachery,  192;  in 
teaching  children,  121, 
122;  in  worsted  mill,  194, 
195;  incites  unskilled  to 
efficiency,  151;  increases 
output,  203;  introduction 
of,  168;  loss  of  bonus  al- 
ways investigated,  137; 
loss  of  bonus  educates  to 
performance  of  duty,  163; 
makes  accurate  predic- 
tions possible,  203;  makes 
better  citizens,  203;  makes 
daily  output  a  known 
quantity,  188;  makes  men 
reliable,  152;  mastery  of 
task  improves  health  and 
appeai'ance,  223 ;  means  of 
utilizing,  268;  method  of 
introducing,  168;  natural 
method,  123;  not  entire 
system  of  management, 
266;  of  education  with 
prizes,  256 ;  permanent, 
241;  psychological  effect, 
143;  ratio  between  present 
and  past  accomplishment, 
207;  reduces  percentage  of 
errors,  108;  reduces  wage 
cost,  207;  results  in  will- 
ing work  up  to  capacity, 
108;  results  similar  in 
various  industries,  215; 
rouses  men's  interests, 
110;  Saturday  failure,  188, 
189;  severity  of  work  reg- 
ulates bonus,  135;  shop 
task,  14;  summary  of,  143; 
stimulates  workman  to 
maintain  standards  and 
help  progress,  160;  task 
exceeded,    218;    for    one 


310 


INDEX 


Task  and  Bonus  (continued) 
day,  43;  gives  mental  ex- 
hilaration, 224;  idea  illus- 
trated— locomotives,  126 ; 
must  not  be  changed  un- 
less method  is  changed, 
92;  not  increased  when 
men  become  skilled,  92, 
93;  set  after  scientific  in- 
vestigation, 43,  150;  set 
by  teacher,  122;  set  prop- 
erly and  rewarded  properly 
is  a  pleasure,  134;  -setters 
from  ranks  of  task  doers, 
159;  -setting  134,  137, 
158,  177;  too  severe  of  no 
advantage,  136;  useful  in 
applying  results  of  inves- 
tigation, 151;  work  not 
necessarily  severe  work, 
135;  workers  maintain 
habits  of  industry  when 
on  day  work,  154;  teaches 
and  trains  simultaneously, 
154;  teaching  best  meth- 
ods in  shortest  time,  117; 
temperature  comfortable 
before  task  is  set,  134; 
three  elements,  117;  time 
percentage  better  than 
fixed  bonus,  114;  turns 
guesses  into  promises,  203 ; 
ventilation  adequate  be- 
fore setting  task,  134; 
what  is  proper  bonus?  135; 
workers  adopt  badge,  221 ; 
workers  do  not  strike, 
199 

Taylor,  F.  W.,  at  Bethlehem 
Steel  Works,  104;  deter- 
mined laws  of  cutting 
metal,  261;  devised  differ- 
ential piece  rate,  107; 
methods  originated  at 
Midvale  Steel  Co.,  104, 
105;  object,  105;  system 


increased  output  and  re- 
duced cost,  149 

Teacher's  qualifications,  222 

Teachers  of  workmen  found 
among  workmen,  83 

Teaching  children,  standard 
method,  121,  122 

Temperament,  influence  of, 
193 

Time  card  for  bleachery,  282; 
machine  shop,  282 

Time  keeping,  282 

Time  and  production  card 
system,  283;  record  sys- 
tem in  cotton  mill,  175 

Time,  determination  of  min- 
imum, 96;  for  accom- 
plishing work  determined, 
87;  for  changing  jobs  im- 
portant, 137;  for  com- 
plex operation,  257;  -keep- 
ing system,  270;  losses  be- 
tween operations,  265; 
must  be  allowed  only  as 
stated  on  card,  255;  plus 
bonus  equals  piece-rate, 
114;  rate  plus  percentage 
better  than  fixed  bonus, 
114;  schedules,  126;  study, 
117;  study  important  in 
considering  work,  183; 
-study  man,  87,  159 

Timing  by  clerk  with  stop- 
watch detrimental,  133 

Tool-steel  study,  106 

Tools,  location  of,  261 ;  result 
of  proper  equipment,  142; 
specified  for  each  machine 
operation,  262 

Trained  men  for  initial  in- 
vestigation, 29 ;  workers 
yield  good  supply  of  in- 
structors or  task-setters, 
88;  workmen  make  inves- 
tigators, 162 

Training  based  on  results  of 


INDEX 


311 


scientific  investigation, 
239;  incomplete  that  fails 
to  teach  industry,  147;  in 
proper  habits  of  work, 
152;  takes  time,  90;  work- 
ers a  function  of  manage- 
ment, 167 

Training  workmen,  111,  147; 
ability  required,  222 ;  ben- 
efits foreman  financially, 
114;  duty  of,  136;  elimin- 
ates hostility  to  improve- 
ment, 238;  has  far-reach- 
ing results,  175;  in  cotton 
mill,  175;  in  habits  of 
work,  175;  individually 
and  collectively  for  suc- 
cess, 7;  necessary  before 
task  can  be  performed, 
43 ;  pays,  98,  99 ;  solves  in- 
dustrial problem,  220; 
Papadimitri,  178,  179, 
184;  Samtak,  177-182; 
who  should  bear  expense? 
98 

Trusts,  forming  of,  227;  get 
what  they  can  by  any 
means,  52 

Uniform  bleaching,  140,  141; 
day  rate  decreases  effici- 
ency, 67;  wages  cause 
strikes,  78;  force  poor 
workmen  and  good  into 
same  class,  78 

Unions,  Labor  (See  Labor 
Unions) 

Unjust  demands  of  labor 
unions,  26 

Unplanned  work  increases 
wage  cost,  25;  unjust  and 
discouraging  to  workmen, 
26 

Unskilled  succeed  in  task  with 
bonus  incentive,  151 ;  class 
filled  by  men  impatient  of 
restraint,  156 


Utilization  of  human  labor, 
24,  33;  knowledge  through 
task  and  bonus,  164;  ma- 
terials and  forces,  19; 
present  knowledge, 
268 

Wages  and  management  in- 
separable subjects,  48; 
based  on  time  rather  than 
output,  44;  cost  less  un- 
der task  and  bonus,  216; 
cost  more  when  low  than 
when  high,  48;  equitable, 
secure  confidence  and  co- 
operation, 110;  extra  if 
task  is  done  in  set  time 
and  way,  82,  91,  92;  for 
efficiency  will  increase  ef- 
ficiency, 70,  97;  for  suc- 
cessful cost  reduction, 
233;  for  task,  158;  gauged 
by  pay  poor  worker  ac- 
cepts, 60;  high,  demand 
efficient  work,  34,  40,  47; 
high  enough  to  be  worth 
striving  for,  48;  horizon- 
tal increase  an  expedient, 
not  a  cure,  234;  improved, 
212,  213;  increased  by  in- 
vestigation and  analysis 
of  details,  23;  liberal  to 
efficient  workmen,  82,110; 
liberal  to  those  supplying 
materials  to  bonus  win- 
ners, 82;  must  encourage 
habits  of  industry,  181; 
of  workmen,  51-61,  91, 
93,  97;  regardless  of  ef- 
ficiency reduce  efficiency, 
97;  to  induce  men  to  do 
full  task,  28;  too  high  de- 
moralize poor  workman, 
60;  too  low  discourage 
efficient  man,  66 

Weaver,  efficient,  wants  warp 
and  filling  ready,  71;  gets 


312 


INDEX 


bonus  for  each  of  twelve 
looms,   197 

Weaving  improved  by  task 
and  bonus,  191;  study  of 
operations,    176 

Work,  in  factory,  clerical 
least  efficient,  219;  rou- 
tine and  expert,  289; 
should  go  through  shop  in 
order  wanted,  132;  sim- 
phfied  by  classifying,  132 

Workman  indifferent  to  re- 
ward beyond  reach,  136; 
ordinarily  does  only  two- 
thirds  task  at  first,  43; 
pays  his  share  for  waste- 
ful operation,  47;  unin- 
structed  does  not  work 
economically,  258;  when 
trained  is  hke  private 
soldier,  155 

Workmen  after  performing 
task  may  suggest  another 
method,  159;  benefited  by 
maintaining  standards, 
166;  character  of,  56,  57; 


convinced  of  benefits  of 
task  setting,  134;  con- 
vinced of  good  faith  of 
management  wiU  be  loy- 
al, 94;  do  better  individ- 
ually than  in  gangs,  72; 
enthusiastic  under  proper 
scientific  training,  8;  fear 
reduction  of  price  when 
task  can  be  done  easily, 
43,  44 ;  interested  in  bonus 
system,  110;  left  to  them- 
selves not  economical,  41; 
hberal  to  each  other,  56; 
of  better  class  attracted, 
30;  proud  of  efficiency, 
117;  ready  to  help  disclose 
and  remove  obstacles,  170; 
stand  by  good  system,  86; 
trained  to  efficiency  object 
to  inefficient  system,  71; 
who  should  bear  expense 
of  training?  8 

Worsted  mill,  bonus  work, 
194,  195 

Zeiss  Optical  Works,  262 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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